Rodrigo Morchón García

• Parasitology PhD.
• Professor at University of Salamanca

Background Ehrlichiosis and anaplasmosis are vector-borne bacterial diseases produced by intracellular rickettsial species of the genus Ehrlichia and Anaplasma. Ehrlichia canis and Anaplasma spp. (A. platys and A. phagocytophilum) have reported cases of zoonotic transmision and are the main bacterial agents of canine ehrlichiosis and anaplasmosis....

The Tajogaite Volcano erupted on the western slope of the Cumbre Vieja mountain range on La Palma Island in the Canary Islands, Spain, in 2021. As one of the multiple consequences of this eruption, a layer of tephra was deposited, to a variable extent, over a large part of the island. Tephra deposits affect all aspects of vegetation recovery, the w...

Heartworm disease caused by Dirofilaria immitis is a vector-borne zoonotic disease responsible for the infection of mainly domestic dogs and cats, or these are those for which the most data are known. Humans are an accidental host where a benign, asymptomatic pulmonary nodule may originate. Dirofilaria immitis also harbours the endosymbiont bacteri...

Dirofilariosis is a zoonotic disease that mainly affects dogs and cats, with a high risk to public health. The island of Gran Canaria (Spain) has been shown to be a hyperendemic area of infection and, therefore, a model for studying the evolution of the disease. The objective of this study was to track the prevalence and distribution of heartworm i...

Subcutaneous dirofilariasis, caused by the parasitic nematode Dirofilaria repens, is a growing concern in Europe, affecting both dogs and humans. This study focused on D. repens Dr20/22, a protein encoded by an alt (abundant larval transcript) gene family. While well-documented in L3 larvae of other filariae species, this gene family had not been e...

Canine leishmaniosis, caused by the protozoan parasite Leishmania infantum, is a cosmopolitan vector-borne zoonosis, transmitted principally by Phlebotomus perniciosus in Spain and Portugal, where it is considered an endemic disease. Ecoinformatics tools such as ecological niche models (ENM) have been successfully tested to model the distribution o...

The favourable geo-climatic conditions in Portugal have made it highly conducive to the development of Dirofilaria immitis in dogs, leading to its identification as an endemic region. This nematode is rapidly spreading across Europe, particularly in northeastern countries. The objective of this study was to provide an updated assessment of the prev...

Malaria remains one of the most important infectious diseases globally due to its high incidence and mortality rates. The influx of infected cases from endemic to non-endemic malaria regions like Europe has resulted in a public health concern over sporadic local outbreaks. This is facilitated by the continued presence of competent Anopheles vectors...

Animal and human dirofilariosis is a vector-borne zoonotic disease, being one of the most important diseases in Europe. In Serbia, there are extensive studies reporting the presence of Dirofilaria immitis and D. repens, mainly in the north of the country, where the human population is concentrated and where there is a presence of culicid mosquitoes...

Canine filariosis is caused by filiform nematodes and affects several species of animals as well as humans. The disease produces a wide range of symptoms that can often be confused with other diseases, which increases the complexity of its diagnosis. The search for methodologies to facilitate its diagnosis is a challenge, and specific and different...

Climate change, competent vectors, and reservoir animals are the main factors for developing vector-borne zoonotic diseases. These diseases encompass a significant and widespread category of pathogens (e.g., viruses, bacteria, protozoa, and helminths) transmitted by blood-feeding arthropods, including ticks, fleas, lice, triatomines, mosquitoes, sa...

Background: Dirofilaria immitis, the agent of canine and feline heartworm disease (HWD), is a widespread mosquito-borne helminth. The true prevalence of HW infection in cats is likely underestimated due to the difficulty in establishing a definitive diagnosis. Aedes albopictus, a recognized competent vector for D. immitis, is currently considered t...

Heartworm disease is a vector-borne zoonotic disease caused by Dirofilaria immitis. The Canary Islands (Spain), geolocated close to the coast of Western Sahara, is an archipelago considered hyperendemic where the average prevalence in domestic dogs is high, heterogeneous, and non-uniform. In addition, Culex theileri has been reported as a vector of...

Subcutaneous dirofilariasis, caused by the parasitic nematode Dirofilaria repens, is a growing concern in Europe, affecting both dogs and humans. This study focused on D. repens Dr20/22, a protein encoded by an alt (abundant larval transcript) gene family. While well-documented in L3 larvae of other filariae species, this gene family had not been e...

Background Dirofilaria immitis, also known as heartworm, is one of the most important parasitic nematodes of domestic dogs, causing a potentially serious disease, cardiopulmonary dirofilariosis, which can be lethal. This species seems to be less 'expansive' than its sister species Dirofilaria repens, and it is believed that climate change facilitat...

Background: In recent years, the usefulness of echocardiography and serum biomarkers in the diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension (PH) in dogs with heartworm disease has been studied. Previously, N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) has shown high concentrations in dogs with heart disease and/or PH as well as its usefulness as a pro...

Background Cats can be infected by Dirofilaria immitis, the causative agent of heartworm disease, characterized by respiratory signs, airway hyperreactivity, remodelling and inflammation. Allergy is a multifactorial pathology, and the role of a number of helminth parasites in the development of allergies in humans and other species has been demonst...

Vector-borne diseases result from the transmission of pathogens, including bacteria, parasites or viruses, by different hematophagous insects such as mosquitoes, phlebotomine sandflies, black flies, ticks, fleas, lice and triatomines, among others [...]

Simple Summary Dirofilariosis (Dirofilaria spp.) is a vector-borne zoonotic disease that mainly affects canids and felids, both domestic and wild, and accidentally humans. In Spain and Portugal, it is considered an endemic disease where the prevalence is not uniform throughout the territory. The objective is to carry out a quantitative proposal of...

Angiogenesis is a process by which new vessels are formed from pre-existing ones when the physiological conditions of the vascular endothelium are altered. Heartworm disease, caused by Dirofilaria immitis, causes changes in the vascular endothelium of the pulmonary arteries due to obstruction, friction, and hypoxia. The aim of this study was to ana...

Background Angiogenesis is defined as the formation of new vessels by sprouting of endothelial cells from pre-existing vessels in response to stimuli, such as hypoxia or inflammation. Subcutaneous dirofilariasis, caused by Dirofilaria repens, is a zoonotic disease characterized by the formation of subcutaneous nodules with the presence of at least...

Background: Angiogenesis is a process by which new vessels are formed from pre-existing ones when the physiological conditions of the vascular endothelium are altered. Heartworm disease (Dirofilaria immitis) causes changes in the vascular endothelium of the pulmonary arteries due to obstruction, friction and hypoxia. The aim of this study was to an...

Millepora alcicornis (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa), known as fire coral, is a tropical species settled in marine ecosystems of the Canary Islands in the last years. This hydrocoral biosynthesizes toxins involved in chemical defense and prey capture mechanisms. Toxicological studies have shown that the venom contained in the nematocysts of Millepora species...

Cortisol, a steroid produced in the adrenal cortex, is a key hormone used as a measure of stress. Some studies demonstrate that prolonged stress, is associated with reduced survival, fecundity and immunity and that cortisol levels are related to the presence of parasites in some species, with discrepant results. This study aims to investigate the p...

Heartworm disease caused by Dirofilaria immitis is a vector-borne disease that affects canids and felids, both domestic and wild, throughout the world. It is a chronic disease which causes vascular damage in pulmonary arteries, and in advanced stages, the presence of pulmonary hypertension and right-sided congestive heart failure can be evidenced....

Canine angiostrongylosis is an emerging disease caused by Angiostrongylus vasorum, mainly affecting wild carnivores and dogs. In Spain, there are studies reporting infections in foxes, wolves, and badgers in different regions of the country. However, there are hardly any publications on its prevalence in dogs. The aim of this study was to complete...

Numerous benefits have been related to the use of educational games, including their effect in promoting motivation and overcoming fatigue and disengagement. To enhance the learning of clinical parasitology diagnostic skills, De Montfort University (DMU, UK) launched in March 2021 a pilot anthology app of three educational mini-games, named ‘e-Para...

Angiostrongylus vasorum es el agente causante de la angiostrongilosis canina, una enfermedad que afecta a cánidos, tanto domésticos como salvajes. Su presencia ha sido analizada en varias zonas del territorio español con diferentes prevalencias como son Galicia (1,86%), Cantabria, Asturias y País Vasco (2,74%), Castilla y León (0,75%), Aragón y Cat...

The climate of Spain has favourable characteristics for the development of D. immitis in dogs, being an endemic country. Given that vector-borne diseases are spreading rapidly through Europe, due to factors such as climate change, the expansion of vectors and the increased mobility of reservoir animals, the aim was to update the epidemiology of hea...

Feline heartworm is a vector-borne zoonotic disease caused by Dirofilaria immitis. It is a cosmopolitan disease that is continuously expanding. Spain is considered an endemic country; however, although there are many published studies in dogs, feline heartworm has been poorly studied in this country. Thus, the objective was to analyze the exposure...

Los nematodos respiratorios de los gatos domésticos han sido subestimados durante mucho tiempo porque se les atribuía baja capacidad patógena y porque algunos de ellos han sido prácticamente desconocidos en esta especie hasta hace una década. No obstante, la distribución de los vermes pulmonares felinos ha aumentado por toda Europa y, aunque los ga...

Various factors are currently causing an increase in vector-borne parasitic diseases at a global scale; among them, some stand out, such as climatic disturbances derived from global change, the increase in movements of reservoir animals, or changes in land made by human activity. In the European continent, there have been an increasing number of ep...

Background Climate change, the increase of travel with infected animals from endemic areas, the introduction of new vectors in these areas and environmental changes caused by human activity, among other factors, have contributed to the establishment and increase of canine vector‐borne diseases (CVBDs), several of which are zoonotic and pose a risk...

Dirofilaria immitis is a parasitic nematode responsible of cardiopulmonary dirofilariosis. This disease is endemic in Spain, being reported in the dog in almost the whole country; furthermore, feline infections are diagnosed with increasing frequency in areas where the disease is endemic in dogs. However, cats generally tolerate heartworm infection...

El éxito del tratamiento adulticida y el pronóstico del paciente dependen de la gravedad inicial de la infección por Dirofilaria immitis en perros. Se realizó un muestreo para evaluar la utilidad diagnóstica de los marcadores de coagulación PT y APTT, así como del examen hematológico para la contribución de la evaluación del paciente infectado y de...

Editorial on the Research Topic Zoonotic Diseases: Their Host and Vectors When Frontiers in Veterinary Science asked us to produce a Research Topic, we were aware of the importance and dissemination it could have, so we tried to address an interesting, attractive, and practical topic that would be of help to the scientific community and the general...

The devastating effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic 2019 (COVID-19) globally has highlighted the importance of the human/animal interface and the environment shared as a potential source of diseases. Emerging evidence has shown that significant zoonotic parasitic diseases could be appropriately controlled by implementing a One Health approa...

El presente estudio describe la experiencia del uso del debate virtual como estrategia educativa en el entorno universitario. Se diseñó un espacio de debate con 4 salas en la aplicación zoom.us para debatir sobre una temática relacionada con el contenido docente de la asignatura psicología Criminal del Grado de Criminología de la Universidad de Sal...

Angiostrongylus vasorum is the causative agent of canine angiostrongylosis, a disease affecting domestic and wild canids. In Europe, it is an emerging disease, mainly reported in red foxes. In Spain, there are a few studies that address the prevalence and pathology of this disease. Castilla y León is the largest region of the Iberian Peninsula, who...

In order to evade the response of their hosts, helminth parasites have evolved precise and highly regulated mechanisms, including migration strategies of the larval stages. In regard to porcine ascariosis caused by Ascaris suum, its infective third-stage larvae (AsL3) undergo a complex migratory route through the bloodstream of their host before es...

Currently, climate change, modifications of landscapes and habitats due to human activities, as well as an increase in the movement of reservoirs and new species of competent vectors, have contributed to the spread of canine vector-borne diseases. These are mostly emerging and neglected diseases, some of them with zoonotic potential. Therefore, the...

Currently, climate change, modifications of landscapes and habitats due to human activities, as well as an increase in the movement of reservoirs and new species of competent vectors, have contributed to the spread of canine vector-borne diseases. These are mostly emerging and neglected diseases, some of them with zoonotic potential. Therefore, the...

The Canary Islands are hyperendemic for canine heartworm and the risk of zoonotic infection is high. Additionally, there is evidence of development of allergies due to nematode infections in animals and humans. Since the population of the Canary Islands presents high prevalence of allergic comorbidities, and previous studies have shown a possible r...

Dirofilariasis is a vector-borne zoonotic disease caused mainly by Dirofilaria immitis and Dirofilaria repens that affect dogs and humans all over the world. Serbia is considered an endemic country to both forms of dirofilariasis, although most of the population is concentrated in the north of the country. The aims of this study were to show the pr...

The cardiopulmonary dirofilariosis caused by Dirofilaria immitis, is a vector-borne infection, which can be transmitted to humans. The main hosts are both domestic and wild canids. This species mainly occurs in tropical and subtropical climates, and temperature and humidity are the main factors that favor the presence and proliferation of culicid m...

Dogs are the primary host for Dirofilaria repens, therefore it is mandatory to accurately diagnose the canine infection and to expand our current knowledge on parasite biology and the immune response of the infected host for a better prevention.Thus, the aim of the present study was to provide new insights from experimental infections of dogs with...

The endosymbiont bacteria Wolbachia plays an important role in the pathogenesis and inflammatory immune response to heartworm (Dirofilaria immitis) infection in dogs. Doxycycline is used to reduce Wolbachia from all life stages of heartworm to avoid large releases of the bacteria during the death of the worms. However, the dose and duration current...

Background: Angiostrongylus vasorum is the causative agent of canine angiostrongylosis, a disease that mainly affects domestic dogs and other wild carnivores. In Europe, the number of infected individuals is increasing, being located in central and southern countries. In Spain, several studies have reported high prevalence of A. vasorum in wild an...

Cardiopulmonary dirofilariosis caused by Dirofilaria immitis produces inflammation, blood vessel obstruction and hypoxia, which are required conditions for the beginning of the process of neovascularization. Since D. immitis harbours intracellular symbiotic Wolbachia bacterium, the global understanding of the angiogenic process requires the analysi...

Glomerulonephropathy associated with Dirofilaria immitis (heartworm) is relatively frequent in infected dogs. Given the importance and the scarcity of studies focused on its prevalence and diagnosis, the objective was to determine the prevalence of proteinuria and functional indicators of glomerular filtration rate in dogs with heartworm disease an...

Changes in environmental conditions, whether related or not to human activities, are continuously modifying the geographic distribution of vectors, which in turn affects the dynamics and distribution of vector-borne infectious diseases. Determining the main ecological drivers of vector distribution and how predicted changes in these drivers may alt...

The objective of this work was to determine the risk of exposure to Dirofilaria immitis in the stray dog population and people living in the metropolitan area of Puebla City, Mexico, using serologic methods. A total of 283 blood salmples were collected from dogs and 254 salmples from people. The canine samples were analyzed using a commercial kit t...

Background: Ascaris roundworms are the parasitic nematodes responsible for causing human and porcine ascariasis. Whereas A. lumbricoides is the most common soil-transmitted helminth infecting humans in the world, A. suum causes important economic losses in the porcine industry. The latter has been proposed as a model for the study of A. lumbricoid...

Dirofilaria immitis is a parasitic nematode that survives in the circulatory system of suitable hosts for many years, causing the most severe thromboembolisms when simultaneous death of adult worms occurs. The two main mechanisms responsible for thrombus formation in mammals are the activation and aggregation of platelets and the generation of fibr...

Background: The cardiopulmonary dirofilariasis caused by Dirofilaria immitis, is a vector-born infection, which can be transmitted to humans. The main host are both domestic and wild canids. It mainly occurs in tropical and subtropical climates, temperature and humidity are the main factors that favor the presence and proliferation of Culicidae mos...

Los estudios de la última década advierten de un aumento de la prevalencia y expansión de las enfermedades parasitarias. Entre ellas, se encuentra la angiostrongilosis canina, también conocida como filaria francesa, producida por el nematodo Angiostrongylus vasorum. Las razones para esta emergencia no están demostradas ni se conocen del todo, pero...

Durante la última década, se han realizado importantes investigaciones para analizar la utilidad de los biomarcadores serológicos para detectar lesiones del miocardio y alteraciones de la funcionalidad cardiaca, así como daños pulmonares, con el objetivo de lograr un diagnóstico más preciso, un pronóstico fiable y abordar el tratamiento de la patol...

Dirofilariosis caused by Dirofilaria immitis (heartworm) is a zoonosis, considered an endemic disease of dogs and cats in several countries of Western Europe, including Portugal. This study assesses the levels of D. immitis exposure in humans from Northern Portugal, to which end, 668 inhabitants of several districts belonging to two different clima...

Human subcutaneous dirofilariosis has several clinical presentations. Many cases present as subcutaneous nodules, as a consequence of a local inflammatory reaction that encapsulates and destroys the worms. In addition, there are cases in which migrating worms located in the ocular area remain unencapsulated. In the present work, the levels of two p...

Background Angiogenesis can occur under pathological conditions when stimuli such as inflammation, vascular obstruction or hypoxia exist. These stimuli are present in cardiopulmonary dirofilariosis (Dirofilaria immitis). The aim of this study was to analyze the capacity of D. immitis antigens to modify the expression of angiogenic factors and trigg...

The treatment of canine heartworm has been modified over the years, adding improvements for greater efficacy, safeness and better prognosis. Currently, the recommended adulticidal protocol consists of the administration of three doses of melarsomine dihydrochloride, preceded by the administration of macrocyclic lactones over two to three months. Th...

Background We present a study about helminth parasites in wolf ( Canis lupus signatus) from Sierra de la Culebra, a protected area in the Northwest of Spain, where is the largest population of wolves of the Spanish territory and one of the largest in Western Europe. Materials and Methods To this aim, 93 fecal samples were collected during May and...

The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain located in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. They are four largest islands (Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera) and many minor islands and islets close to the larger islands. According to the Köppen-Geiger climate classification, the warm Mediterrane...

Cardiopulmonary biomarkers are serum parameters that can be objectively measured and quantified as indicators of pathogenic processes, and are considered tools for the screening, diagnosis or monitoring of disease, and determining the prognosis. They may also be used to determine the usefulness of specific therapies and susceptibility of the diseas...

Heartworm adulticide treatment has been modified with major improvements over the years, and the current treatment presents a better prognosis and greater efficacy. The three-dose method is the current recommended protocol by the European Society of Dirofilariosis and Angiostrongylosis and the American Heartworm Society. Consists on the administrat...

The cardiopulmonary dirofilariosis caused by Dirofilaria immitis is a chronic disease characterized by the development of acute inflammatory reactions and thrombi formation in the pulmonary arteries of the hosts. When spontaneous or treatment induced worm’s death exacerbates inflammatory reactions at the levels of pulmonary arteries, producing a ma...

Human subcutaneous dirofilariosis caused by Dirofilaria repens is a vector-borne parasitic disease diagnosed with increasing frequency in Europe. These infections are characterized by the appearance of subcutaneous nodules caused by the local inflammatory reaction against immature/mature worms that mimic both benign and malignant primary or metasta...

The present study aimed to evaluate the extent of Dirofilaria immitis and D. repens exposure in humans from eastern and southern areas of Romania and central Moldova by serological methods. The serological screening was performed on a total of 450 serum samples (187 from Romania and 263 from Moldova). The sera were collected using a convenience sam...

We assessed the risk of human pulmonary dirofilariasis in the Canary Islands, hyperendemic for canine heartworm (Dirofilaria immitis), a zoonotic vector-borne infection. For this purpose, 1479 inhabitants were tested for anti-D. immitis antibodies. Four of the 7 islands presented high seroprevalences (from 6.2 to 12.7%), therefore high exposure to...

INTRODUCTION. Dirofilariosis is a worldwide-distributed infection caused by Dirofilaria immitis and D. repens which affects mainly dogs and cats. Moreover, its zoonotic potential represents a constant threatening for public health, producing pulmonary and subcutaneous/ocular dirofilariosis in humans (Simón et al., 2012, Clin Microbiol Rev, 25:507-4...