This study presents 2 cases of wound myiasis in a dog and a cat involving morphological and molecular identification in Korea. A 7-year-old male Jindo mix dog, Canis familiaris, was admitted to a veterinary clinic in Yangsan-si, Gyeongsangnam-do, Korea, in July 2024. The bite wound near the right rib was infected with maggots. We carefully removed the 5 maggots using forceps. The wound healed without any subsequent complications. A Korean Shorthair stray cat, Felis catus, was brought to the same clinic in October 2024 after being hit by a car. The maggot-infected wounds were found in the anus and perianal regions. We removed all 10 maggots from the wounds. After treatment, no living maggots were observed; however, the cat was euthanized due to trauma-related complications. The maggots from the dog and the cat were third instars with 12 body segments and posterior spiracles containing 3 distinct slits. Compared with the dog-derived larvae, the cat-derived larvae had a more dorsally positioned posterior process of the mouth hook, reduced dorsal papillae distances, and distinctly sclerotized ventral cornua. Complete cox1 gene analysis confirmed the dog- and cat-derived larvae as Lucilia sericata (Meigen, 1826) and Lucilia illustris (Meigen, 1826), respectively, whereas 18S rRNA gene analysis showed limited species-level resolution. In the present study, wound myiasis caused by L. sericata and L. illustris is described in a dog and a cat in Korea based on morphological and molecular findings.
This study reports the first two clinical cases of spirometrosis caused by Spirometra sp. in cats in Korea. In these two cases, the cats vomited, and long proglottids of tapeworm were recovered. The sick cats presented with anorexia and lethargy. However, they unexpectedly showed no diarrhea, which is the main symptom of spirometrosis. Based on a fecal floatation test as well as morphological and molecular analyses, the parasite was diagnosed as Spirometra sp. The 2 cases were treated with praziquantel. This study suggests regular monitoring of health and deworming in companion animals, even when animals are well cared for, with regular preventive medication. Additionally, spirometrosis should be considered in the differential diagnosis in cases of gastrointestinal symptoms in Spirometra endemic areas.
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