From 1978 to 1996, out of a total of 3,259 dogs necropsied, sixteen (0.49%) were parasitized by Dioctophyma renale. Twelve of those (75%) were stray dogs. Thirteen dogs (81.2%) presented one or more specimens of D. renale in the right kidney. In three dogs (18.7%), the parasite was observed in the abdominal cavity. In those cases of renal parasitism, there was marked atrophy of the kidney which became a fibrous-walled bag within which the parasite was found imersed in a semiliquid necro-hemorrhagic exudate. In five cases, compensatory hypertrophy of the contralateral kidney was observed. The life cycle of D. renale is complex and not fully understood. It envolves intermediate and parathenic hosts. The high incidence of the disease in stray dog suggests that the infection is related to the poor selective feeding habits of this kind of dog.
Dioctophyma renale; parasites; diseases of dogs; pathology
