Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2009
Twenty-three (9%) of 255 domesticated dogs surveyed in Lahore, West Pakistan, were blood positive for microfilariae. Twenty-one (8·2%) had either pure or mixed infections with Acanthocheilonema dracunculoides. Dirofilaria repens microfilariae were present in 4 dogs and one had Dirofilaria immitis microfilariae. A single adult A. dracunculoides was found from the hind leg of an autopsied dog with A. dracunculoides microfilariae. Microfilariae had a diurnal periodicity in this animal. There is only one previous documented report of A. dracunculoides adult worms from a dog in the Indian subcontinent, but it is possible that microfilariae earlier described from India under other names may also have represented this species.