Feline lungworms in Greece: copromicroscopic, molecular and serological study

Aelurostrongylus abstrusus(Nematoda, Metastrongyloidea) causes verminous pneumonia in cats worldwide. This study evaluated the seroprevalence ofA. abstrususantibodies in 220 stray and free-roaming cats from insular (Mykonos, Crete, Skopelos) and continental (Thessaloniki, Attica) Greece. The results were compared with morphological and biomolecular identification of first-stage larvae (L1) in faeces. Positive cats were observed in all 5 areas: 13/97 (13.4%), 1/32 (3.1%), 7/26 (26.9%), 3/18 (16.7%) and 5/47 (10.6%) cats tested positive forA. abstrususL1 by Baermann examination, and 33/97 (34.0%), 7/32 (21.9%), 6/26 (23.1%), 3/18 (16.7%) and 11/47 (23.4%) were seropositive, in Mykonos, Crete, Skopelos, Thessaloniki and Attica, respectively.Troglostrongylus breviorL1 were found in 12/97 (12.4%), 3/26 (11.5%) and 2/47 (4.3%) cats from Mykonos, Skopelos and Attica respectively. Six of the 220 cats (2.7%), i.e. 4/97 (4.1%) from Mykonos and 2/26 (7.7%) from Skopelos, shed L1 of bothA. abstrususandT. brevior. Sixty samples were ELISA-positive (27.3%, 95% CI: 21.5-33.7%), of which 21 (35%) tested copromicroscopically positive (19 monospecific infections and 2 mixed withTroglostrongylus brevior), and 5 were positive forT. breviorL1 only. Among seronegative cats (n = 140), L1 ofA. abstrususwere additionally detected in 8 (5.7% out of 140) cats (i.e. 4 monospecific infections and 4 mixed withT. brevior), and in 6 (4.3% out of 140) cats, L1 ofT. brevioras monospecific infection were detected. This study confirms the presence of lungworms in Greece and suggests that the number of cats infected with/exposed to metastrongylids is higher than detected by faecal examinations.