Filarial Infection of Cats in Tokyo

Abstract

Autopsy was conducted on 62 cats collected in Tokyo. Adults of Dirofilaria immitis, morphologically identified as such, were detected from 4 cats (6.4%). They had been harbored in the right ventricle. All the 4 cats were involved in single parasitization. Of them, two were infected with mature and the other two with immature worms.
Besides, larvae of D. immitis were detected from one (1.3%) of 75 cats surveyed in Tokyo. In that cat, an adult female worm was found in the right ventricle. No other filarial species were detected from any cat examined. The rate of D. immitis infection was much lower in cats (6.4%) than in dogs (59.1%) in Tokyo.