Dirofilaria immitis is a parasitic nematode of veterinary importance and zoonotic risk that has been reported in central and southern states of México, as a parasite of domestic and wild dogs. However, in the northwestern area of the country, its presence and prevalence are unknown. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of D. immitis and molecular characterization in domestic dogs of rural coastal communities of Sinaloa, México. A total of 67 blood samples from domestic dogs were obtained, 23 belonging to the central region, 23 samples from the central‐south region, and 21 from the south region of the state. The prevalence of D. immitis was determined by optical microscopy, and the molecular prevalence by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Total microscopy prevalence of D. immitis in this study among domestic dogs was 23.8%. In the southern region, the prevalence was 9.5%, in the central‐south region, 8.6%, and in the central region, 52.17%. Total molecular prevalence of D. immitis among domestic dogs was 31.3%. The southern region, had a prevalence of 14.3%, central‐south region, 21.7%, and in the central region, 56.5%. Based on the molecular and phylogenetic analysis of the nucleotide sequence of the 5.8S‐ITS2‐28S region, samples were clearly identified as D. immitis. Sequential analysis showed high identity of the gene fragments in this study with those previously reported in GenBank from D. immitis from other countries. This study reports the molecular characteristics of D. immitis infection in dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) based on sequence identity of the molecular marker, in the northwest of México, specifically in the central to south coastal regions of the state of Sinaloa, México.
García-Montes et al. (Thu,) studied this question.