Meriam Saleh

• PhD
• Clinical Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University

A diverse array of ixodid and argasid ticks infest dogs and cats in North America, resulting in skin lesions, blood loss, and disease. The ticks most commonly found on pets in this region are hard ticks of the genera Amblyomma, Dermacentor, Ixodes, and Rhipicephalus, as well as the more recently established Haemaphysalis longicornis. Soft tick gene...

Background: A variety of tick species infest dogs and cats in North America. Although most of these species also readily feed on people, national data regarding the species and abundance of ticks on dogs and cats are lacking. Here we report a large-scale study of ticks from dogs and cats in the USA over a 12-month period. Methods: Tick submissio...

Background An evaluation of currently available in‐clinic diagnostic tests for Giardia duodenalis infection of dogs and cats has not been performed. In addition, there is discordance among published diagnostic comparisons. The absence of a true gold standard for detecting Giardia duodenalis also complicates diagnostic evaluations. Objectives To ev...

Detection of circulating antigen of Dirofilaria immitis has been a mainstay of identifying heartworm infection in clinical practice for the past three decades. Several validated commercial antigen tests have very good sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive values, especially when used in patients for which heartworm infection is likely....

Reptiles and amphibians are becoming increasingly more common in the exotic pet trade and as such veterinary care is also rising. Parasitic infections can pose a serious threat to pet reptiles and amphibians and are a common finding in these exotic pets. The purpose of the present study was to determine the species composition of parasites among re...

Canine heartworm, Dirofilaria immitis , causes a potentially fatal, multisystemic disease in dogs. Diagnosis of heartworm disease relies on serologic antigen detection and microfilariae identification. Immune-complex dissociation (ICD) of serum or plasma by heat treatment increases detection. We assessed urine as a sample for heartworm antigen dete...

Background Canine vector-borne diseases (CVBDs) are illnesses caused by pathogens transmitted by blood-feeding arthropods such as ticks and mosquitoes. Many CVBDs, including dirofilariosis, anaplasmosis, and ehrlichiosis, are globally distributed and may cause a variety of clinical signs in dogs. Several CVBD agents are zoonotic, making epidemiolog...

Guinea worm (GW, Dracunculus medinensis ) is a nematode that causes a painful and debilitating neglected tropical disease in humans. The GW Eradication Program has decreased human infections by >99% over the last 40 years. However, GW emergence in animal hosts, particularly dogs, has hampered eradication efforts. Currently, there is no method for d...

Giardia duodenalis and Cryptosporidium spp. are zoonotic protozoal pathogens, spread by a fecal-oral route, which can infect a wide range of hosts including but not limited to dogs and humans. Giardia was recently estimated to be present in 37% to 50% of kennel-housed dogs. Cryptosporidium infections in kennel-housed dogs have been reported in 7% t...

The winter tick, Dermacentor albipictus (Ixodidae), commonly infests a wide variety of wild and domestic ungulates throughout North America. This one-host-tick infests animals from October to April, with moose (Alces alces) particularly affected. Animals highly infested may present with anemia, tick-induced alopecia, and alterations in thermoregula...

After detecting Giardia and Cryptosporidium infections and coinfections in 2 litters of puppies in our vivarium, our team realized that we needed a simple, quick, and economical point-of-care test for concurrent screening of asymptomatic dogs for both organisms. Periodic screening of colony dogs and of all dogs introduced into a colony can prevent...

Background Infection by the canine heartworm, Dirofilaria immitis , causes a potentially fatal, multisystemic disease in dogs. Diagnosis of D. immitis relies on serologic antigen detection coupled with microfilariae identification. It has been shown that immune-complex dissociation (ICD) of serum/plasma by heat treatment increases detection of infe...

Background The canine heartworm Dirofilaria immitis, a filarioid nematode of dogs and other carnivores, is widespread in the USA and the world. Over 20 different mosquito species serve as intermediate hosts of D. immitis, but their contribution to transmission varies according to factors like host feeding patterns, geographic locations and climatic...

Abstract Background Current recommendations for diagnosis of Dirofilaria immitis infection in dogs rely on the detection of antigen produced largely by adult females coupled with the visualization of microfilariae (mf) in the circulation via a microfilaria detection test (MFDT). It is hypothesized that qPCR assays used in parallel with antigen dete...

Wild canids serve as reservoir for various vector-borne pathogens of veterinary and medical importance, including the canine heartworm, Dirofilaria immitis. In North and Central America, coyotes (Canis latrans) may be a relevant reservoir host for heartworm transmission. The objective of this study was to determine the occurrence of D. immitis in c...

Dictyocaulus is a globally distributed genus of lungworms of domestic and wild ungulates. Dictyocaulus adults inhabit the bronchi, frequently causing subclinical and clinical disease, and that impacts animal health and production. North American bison (Bison bison) and cattle (Bos taurus) share various parasitic nematode species, particularly in ar...

In the United States, Dermacentor variabilis and Dermacentor andersoni are considered key vectors for Rickettsia rickettsii, the causative agent of Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Through regional surveillance, a wide diversity of Rickettsia spp. have been documented in D. variabilis, and Dermacentor spp. has been suggested as potential vectors for v...

Throughout North America, Dermacentor spp. ticks are often found feeding on animals and humans, and are known to transmit pathogens, including the Rocky Mountain spotted fever agent. To better define the identity and distribution of Dermacentor spp. removed from dogs and cats in the United States, ticks submitted from 1,457 dogs (n = 2,924 ticks) a...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Dermacentor albipictus, a common one-host tick of large animals in North America, is most often reported from moose (Alces alces) and is rarely implicated as a parasite of cats and dogs. From 2018 to 2020, 4 dogs and 4 cats from United States and 3 dogs from Canada were infested with D. albipictus. The specimens were collected and submitted to univ...

Ixodes spp. are commonly found on dogs and cats throughout the world. In the eastern United States, 16S rDNA sequence of Ixodes scapularis, the predominant species, reveals two clades-American and Southern. To confirm the species and clades of Ixodes spp. ticks submitted from pets, we examined ticks morphologically and evaluated 16S rDNA sequence f...

The Asian longhorned tick, Haemaphysalis longicornis, was only recently recognized in North America and has since been identified on a wide range of domestic and wild animal hosts in multiple states throughout the eastern United States. An H. longicornis nymph was submitted for identification from a dog in central Virginia, USA. Identification was...

Giardia duodenalis is considered a species complex that is divided into 8 genetically distinct but morphologically identical assemblages (A-H). Assemblages C-H are generally host adapted, while A and B infect both people and animals and are considered potentially zoonotic. Furthermore, within assemblage A there are four subtypes (AI, AII, AIII, and...

Haemaphysalis longicornis is a tick indigenous to eastern Asia and an important vector of human and animal disease agents, resulting in such outcomes as human hemorrhagic fever and reduction of production in dairy cattle by 25%. H. longicornis was discovered on a sheep in New Jersey in August 2017 (1). This was the first detection in the United Sta...

Several commercial Giardia immunoassays were evaluated in baboons for sensitivity and specificity as well as ease of use in a large specific pathogen–free (SPF) colony. An additional objective was to identify the assemblage(s) of Giardia duodenalis present in this baboon colony. A direct immunofluorescent antibody test (IFAT) was used as the refere...

OBJECTIVE To develop and evaluate a protocol for control of Giardia duodenalis in naturally infected group-housed dogs at a veterinary medical college. DESIGN Prospective evaluation study. ANIMALS 34 dogs. PROCEDURES All dogs were tested for evidence of G duodenalis infection. Dogs were treated with fenbendazole on study days 1 through 10. On day 5...