The rhabditid nematode Strongyloides stercoralis is known worldwide as the causative agent of strongyloidiasis in humans. In addition to public health concerns, S. stercoralis also infects dogs, which represent a possible reservoir for potentially zoonotic transmissions. We describe the first confirmed case of fatal disseminated infection in a dog in the Czech Republic. The microscopic and histological results were supported by a complex genotyping approach. Using high-throughput sequencing of the hypervariable region (HVR-IV) of 18S rDNA and Sanger sequencing of the partial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene (cox1), the potentially zoonotic haplotype/lineage A of S. stercoralis was confirmed, while the solely canine haplotype/lineage B was not found. The development of the disease is mainly associated with immunodeficiency, and in this case, it was triggered by inappropriate treatment, in particular the use of corticosteroids.

Central European Institute of Technology Masaryk University Kamenice 753 5 625 00 Brno Czech Republic

Department of Botany and Zoology Faculty of Science Masaryk University Kotlářská 2 611 37 Brno Czech Republic

Department of Pathology and Parasitology University of Veterinary Sciences Brno Palackého třída 1946 1 612 42 Brno Czech Republic

Department of Veterinary Sciences Faculty of Agrobiology Food and Natural Resources Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Kamýcká 129 165 00 Prague Czech Republic

Institute of Parasitology Biology Centre Czech Academy of Sciences Branišovská 31 370 05 České Budějovice Czech Republic

Institute of Vertebrate Biology Czech Academy of Sciences Květná 8 603 00 Brno Czech Republic

Pathology Department LABOKLIN GmbH and Co KG 97688 Bad Kissingen Germany

Veterinary centrum VIVA Medkova 6 500 02 Hradec Králové Czech Republic

Zobrazit více v PubMed

Altschul SF, Gish W, Miller W, Myers EW and Lipman DJ (1990) Basic local alignment search tool. Journal of Molecular Biology 215, 403–410. PubMed

Asundi A, Beliavsky A, Liu XJ, Akaberi A, Schwarzer G, Bisoffi Z, Requena-Méndez A, Shrier I and Greenaway C (2019) Prevalence of strongyloidiasis and schistosomiasis among migrants: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet Global Health 7, e236–e248. PubMed

Barratt JLN, Lane M, Talundzic E, Richins T, Robertson G, Formenti F, Pritt B, Verocai G, de Souza JN, Soares NM, Traub R, Buonfrate D and Bradbury RS (2019) Correction: a global genotyping survey of PubMed PMC

Basso W, Grandt LM, Magnenat AL, Gottstein B and Campos M (2019) PubMed

Beknazarova M, Barratt JLN, Bradbury RS, Lane M, Whiley H and Ross K (2019) Detection of classic and cryptic PubMed PMC

Bourgoin G, Jacquet-Viallet P and Zenner L (2018) Fatal strongyloidiasis in a puppy from France. Veterinary Record Case Reports 6, 6–10.

Bradbury RS and Streit A (2024) Is strongyloidiasis a zoonosis from dogs? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 379, 1–13. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0445 PubMed DOI PMC

Bradbury RS, Pafčo B, Nosková E and Hasegawa H (2021) Strongyloides genotyping: a review of methods and application in public health and population genetics. International Journal for Parasitology 51, 1153–1166. PubMed

Buonfrate D, Rodari P, Barda B, Page W, Einsiedel L and Watts MR (2022) Current pharmacotherapeutic strategies for PubMed

Callahan BJ, McMurdie PJ, Rosen MJ, Han AW, Johnson AJA and Holmes SP (2016) DADA2: high-resolution sample inference from Illumina amplicon data. Nature Methods 13, 581–583. PubMed PMC

Cervone M, Giannelli A, Otranto D and Perrucci S (2016)

Concha R, Harrington W and Rogers AI (2005) Intestinal strongyloidiasis: recognition, management, and determinants of outcome. Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology 39, 203–211. doi: 10.1097/01.mcg.0000152779.68900.33 PubMed DOI

Deak G, Ionică AM, Taulescu M, Negoescu A, Ifteme C, Roșoiu M and Mihalca AD (2023) A severe case of hyperinfection by PubMed

Dillard KJ, Saari SAM and Anttila M (2007) PubMed PMC

Eydal M and Skírnisson K (2016) Strongyloides stercoralis found in imported dogs, household dogs and kennel dogs in Iceland. Icelandic Agricultural Sciences 29, 39–51.

Fischer AH, Jacobson KA, Rose J and Zeller R (2008) Hematoxylin and eosin staining of tissue and cell sections. Cold Spring Harbor Protocols 3, 4986–4988. PubMed

Gorgani-Firouzjaee T, Kalantari N, Chehrazi M, Ghaffari S and Shahdin S (2022) Global prevalence of PubMed

Graham JA, Sato M, Moore AR, McGrew AK, Ballweber LR, Byas AD and Dowers KL (2019) Disseminated PubMed

Gray PB and Young SM (2011) Human – pet dynamics in cross-cultural perspective. Anthrozoös 24, 17–30.

Hagelskjaer L (1994) A fatal case of systemic strongyloidiasis and review of the literature. European Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases 13, 1102–1103. PubMed

Hall E, Lyriaki M, Whitworth F and Black V (2020) Severe strongyloidosis in dogs. Veterinary Record 186, 354–355. PubMed

Huelsenbeck JP and Ronquist F (2001) MRBAYES: Bayesian inference of phylogenetic trees. Bioinformatics (Oxford, England) 17, 754–755. PubMed

Itoh N, Kanai K, Hori Y, Nakao R, Hoshi F and Higuchi S (2009) Fenbendazole treatment of dogs with naturally acquired Strongyloides stercoralis infection. Veterinary Record 164, 559–560. PubMed

Jaleta TG, Zhou S, Bemm FM, Schär F, Khieu V, Muth S, Odermatt P, Lok JB and Streit A (2017) Different but overlapping populations of PubMed PMC

Jiang H, Lei R, Ding SW and Zhu S (2014) Skewer: a fast and accurate adapter trimmer for next-generation sequencing paired-end reads. BMC Bioinformatics 15, 1–12. PubMed PMC

Karanam L SK, Basavraj GK and Papireddy CKR (2021) Strongyloides stercoralis hyper infection syndrome. Indian Journal of Surgery 83, 582–586. PubMed PMC

Keane TM, Creevey CJ, Pentony MM, Naughton TJ and McInerney JO (2006) Assessment of methods for amino acid matrix selection and their use on empirical data shows that ad hoc assumptions for choice of matrix are not justified. BMC Evolutionary Biology 6, 1–17. PubMed PMC

Krolewiecki A and Nutman TB (2019) Strongyloidiasis: a neglected tropical disease. Infectious Disease Clinics of North America 33, 135–151. PubMed PMC

Mansfield LS, Niamatali S, Bhopale V, Volk S, Smith G, Lok JB, Genta RM and Schad GA (1996) Strongyloides stercoralis: maintenance of exceedingly chronic infections. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 55, 617–624. PubMed

Marrone R, Mazzi C, Ouattara H, Cammilli M, Pontillo D, Perandin F and Bisoffi Z (2023) Screening for neglected tropical diseases and other infections in African refugees and asylum seekers in Rome and Lazio region, Italy. Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease 56, 102649. PubMed

Murphy MA, Waits LP and Kendall KC (2000) Quantitative evaluation of fecal drying methods for brown bear DNA analysis. Wildlife Society Bulletin 28, 951–957.

Nagayasu E, Aung MPPTHH, Hortiwakul T, Hino A, Tanaka T, Higashiarakawa M, Olia A, Taniguchi T, Win SMT, Ohashi I, Odongo-Aginya EI, Aye KM, Mon M, Win KK, Ota K, Torisu Y, Panthuwong S, Kimura E, Palacpac NMQ, Kikuchi T, Hirata T, Torisu S, Hisaeda H, Horii T, Fujita J, Htike WW and Maruyama H (2017) A possible origin population of pathogenic intestinal nematodes, PubMed PMC

Nosková E, Modrý D, Baláž V, Červená B, Jirků-Pomajbíková K, Zechmeisterová K, Leowski C, Petrželková KJ, Pšenková I, Roman V, Kessler SE, Ngoubangoye B and Setchell JM (2023) Identification of potentially zoonotic parasites in captive orangutans and semi-captive mandrills: phylogeny and morphological comparison. American Journal of Primatology 85, e23475. PubMed

Nosková E, Sambucci KM, Petželková KJ, Červená B, Modrý D and Pafčo B (2024) Strongyloides in non-human primates: significance for public health control. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 379, 1–11. PubMed PMC

Ottino L, Buonfrate D, Paradies P, Bisoffi Z, Antonelli A, Rossolini GM, Gabrielli S, Bartoloni A and Zammarchi L (2020) Autochthonous human and canine PubMed PMC

Page W, Judd JA and Bradbury RS (2018) The unique life cycle of PubMed DOI PMC

Paradies P, Iarussi F, Sasanelli M, Capogna A, Lia RP, Zucca D, Greco B, Cantacessi C and Otranto D (2017) Occurrence of strongyloidiasis in privately owned and sheltered dogs: clinical presentation and treatment outcome. Parasites & Vectors 10, 1–9. doi: 10.1186/s13071-017-2275-5 PubMed DOI PMC

Qu T, Yang Q, Yu M and Wand J (2016) Fatal PubMed PMC

Ramanathan R and Nutman TB (2008) PubMed PMC

Riggio F, Mannella R, Ariti G and Perrucci S (2013) Intestinal and lung parasites in owned dogs and cats from central Italy. Veterinary Parasitology 193, 78–84. PubMed

Robertson ID and Thompson RC (2002) Enteric parasitic zoonoses of domesticated dogs and cats. Microbes and Infection 4, 867–873. PubMed

Salant H, Harel M, Moreshet A, Baneth G, Mazuz ML and Yasur-Landau D (2021)

Sandground J (1925) Speciation and specificity in the nematode genus

Schnyder M, Reichler I, Eichenberger RM, Hofer-Inteeworn N, Kümmerle-Fraune C and Grimm F (2022) PubMed

Streit A (2008) Reproduction in PubMed

Štrkolcová G, Goldová M, Bocková E and Mojžišová J (2017) The roundworm PubMed

Thamsborg SM, Ketzis J, Horii Y and Matthews JB (2016) PubMed DOI

Unterköfler MS, Eipeldauer I, Merz S, Pantchev N, Hermann J, Brunthaler R, Basso W and Hinney B (2022) Strongyloides stercoralis infection in dogs in Austria: two case reports. Parasites and Vectors 15, 1–9. PubMed PMC

Valkounová J (1982) Parasitological investigation of children's sandboxes and dog faeces from public areas of housing development in Prague. Folia Parasitologica 29, 133–138. PubMed

van Knapen F and Overgaauw P (2014) Dogs and transmission of infection to Man, “respected member of the family?”. Zoonoses-Infections Affecting Humans and Animals: Focus on Public Health Aspects, 575–587. doi: 10.1007/978-94-017-9457-2 DOI

Viney ME and Lok JB (2015) The biology of PubMed DOI PMC

Wetzels SU, Strachan CR, Conrady B, Wagner M, Burgener IA, Virányi Z and Selberherr E (2021) Wolves, dogs and humans in regular contact can mutually impact each other's skin microbiota. Scientific Reports 11, 1–11. PubMed PMC