Who is the Queen of Wolbachia?
The American Heartworm Society currently recommends a 28-day course of doxycycline to reduce the Wolbachia, which is a bacterium found in all heartworm life-stages. Researchers from the University of Georgia investigated alternatives to doxycycline, given recent issues with availability and increased price. They published their results in Parasites and Vectors.
The study showed that dogs treated with 10 mg/kg doxycycline tested negative for the presence of Wolbachia DNA by 28 days post-treatment. However, some of the dogs that had been given the same dose and treatment regimen of minocycline still tested positive after therapy.
Checkmate, Wolbachia. All hail doxycycline!
