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Prevention of heartworm infection in dogs using a combination of moxidectin, imidacloprid and praziquantel: evidence from a randomized clinical trial

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a topical combination of moxidectin 3.5%, imidacloprid 10% and praziquantel 10% for the prevention of Dirofilaria immitis (Leidy, 1856) infection in dogs. For this purpose, a randomized and controlled clinical trial was conducted between August 2021 and October 2022, in the municipality of Goiana, state of Pernambuco, north-eastern Brazil, where heartworm is highly prevalent. Of the 213 dogs initially sampled (baseline), 68 (31.9%) were positive for adult antigens (SNAP 4Dx Plus, Idexx) and/or microfilariae (modified Knott’s test). On day 0, 140 negative dogs were randomly included in the treatment and control groups, 70 animals each. During the study, 60 dogs (34 treated and 26 untreated) were removed for different reasons. At the end of the study (day 360 ± 2), 36 treated and 44 untreated were sampled and included in the efficacy calculation. The efficacy against the development of adults and microfilariae was 84.7%, with only one treated dog being positive for adult antigens but negative for microfilariae. On the other hand, eight untreated dogs were positive for adult antigens and/or microfilariae, resulting in a significant difference in the number of positives between groups (Chi-square test = 4.706, df = 1, P = 0.0301). Remarkably, the efficacy against the appearance of D. immitis microfilariae was 100% (i.e., all treated dogs negative) and three untreated dogs were positive for microfilariae. The topical combination of moxidectin 3.5%, imidacloprid 10% and praziquantel 10% significantly reduced the risk of D. immitis infection in treated dogs as compared with untreated dogs, in a highly endemic area in north-eastern Brazil.

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Data availability

All data supporting the conclusion of this study are included in the manuscript.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to the field veterinarians (Moana Olimpia Gomes Freire and Carolina D’alifany) for their support with blood collection. LGS and LCSP are currently supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Funding

This project was sponsored by Labyes (project number: IAM-007-FEX-19).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Immunology, Aggeu Magalhães Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), Recife, Brazil

    Filipe Dantas-Torres, Luciana Aguiar Figueredo, Kamila Gaudêncio da Silva Sales, Rafaela Lira Nogueira de Luna & Lucas Lisboa Nunes Bonifácio

  2. Laboratory of Bacteriology, National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, MT, USA

    Lucas Christian de Sousa-Paula & Lidiane Gomes da Silva

  3. Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari, Valenzano, Bari, Italy

    Domenico Otranto

  4. Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Domenico Otranto

Authors
  1. Filipe Dantas-Torres
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  2. Luciana Aguiar Figueredo
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  3. Kamila Gaudêncio da Silva Sales
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  4. Rafaela Lira Nogueira de Luna
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  5. Lucas Christian de Sousa-Paula
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  6. Lidiane Gomes da Silva
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  7. Lucas Lisboa Nunes Bonifácio
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  8. Domenico Otranto
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Contributions

Study design and coordination: FDT. Data acquisition: LAF, KGSS, RLNL, LCSP, LGS and LLNB. Data analysis: FDT, DO. Manuscript writing: FDT. Manuscript revision: LAF, KGSS, RLNL, LCSP, LGS, LLNB and DO. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Filipe Dantas-Torres.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

This project was approved by the Animal Use Ethics Committee (CEUA) of the Aggeu Magalhães Institute (Fiocruz-PE), under protocol number 154/2019.

Consent to participate

Dog owners signed an informed consent form allowing the participation of their dogs in the study.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

This project was sponsored by Labyes. We declare the sponsor did not play any role in study design, conduction, data acquisition, interpretation, and manuscript preparation.

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Handling Editor: Julia Walochnik

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Dantas-Torres, F., Figueredo, L.A., Sales, K.G.d. et al. Prevention of heartworm infection in dogs using a combination of moxidectin, imidacloprid and praziquantel: evidence from a randomized clinical trial. Parasitol Res 123, 94 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-023-08112-x

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