{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,24]],"date-time":"2026-03-24T01:06:48Z","timestamp":1774314408118,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":50,"publisher":"Cambridge University Press (CUP)","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,29]],"date-time":"2023-05-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1685318400000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["cambridge.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Parasitology"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2023,8]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:p>The assumed definitive host of the heartworm <jats:italic>Acanthocheilonema spirocauda<\/jats:italic> (Onchocerdidae; Filarioidea) is the harbour seal (<jats:italic>Phoca vitulina<\/jats:italic>). This filaroid nematode parasitizing in cardiac ventricles and blood vessel lumina of harbour seals (<jats:italic>P. vitulina<\/jats:italic>) has a low prevalence and seldom causes severe health impacts. The seal louse (<jats:italic>Echinophthirius horridus<\/jats:italic>) is the assumed intermediate host for transmission of <jats:italic>A. spirocauda<\/jats:italic> filariae between seals, comprising a unique parasite assembly conveyed from the terrestrial ancestors of pinnipeds. Although grey seals (<jats:italic>Halichoerus grypus<\/jats:italic>) are infected by seal lice, heartworm infection was not verified. Analysing a longterm dataset compiled over decades (1996\u20132021) of health monitoring seals along the German coasts comprising post mortem investigations and archived parasites, 2 cases of <jats:italic>A. spirocauda<\/jats:italic> infected male grey seals were detected. Tentative morphological identification was confirmed with molecular tools by sequencing a section of mtDNA COI and comparing nucleotide data with available heartworm sequence. This is the first record of heartworm individuals collected from the heart of grey seals at necropsy. It remains puzzling why heartworm infection occur much less frequently in grey than in harbour seals, although both species use the same habitat, share mixed haul-outs and consume similar prey species. If transmission occurs directly <jats:italic>via<\/jats:italic> seal louse vectors on haul-outs, increasing seal populations in the North- and Baltic Sea could have density dependent effects on prevalence of heartworm and seal louse infections. It remains to be shown how species-specificity of filarial nematodes as well as immune system traits of grey seals influence infection patterns of <jats:italic>A. spirocauda<\/jats:italic>.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1017\/s0031182023000501","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,29]],"date-time":"2023-05-29T09:09:37Z","timestamp":1685351377000},"page":"781-785","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/policypage","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Heartworms in <i>Halichoerus grypus<\/i>: first records of <i>Acanthocheilonema spirocauda<\/i> (Onchocercidae; Filarioidea) in 2 grey seals from the North Sea"],"prefix":"10.1017","volume":"150","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8938-3340","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kristina","family":"Lehnert","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0534-0461","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Insa","family":"Herzog","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Joy Ometere","family":"Boyi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Stephanie","family":"Gross","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Peter","family":"Wohlsein","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Christa","family":"Ewers","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ellen","family":"Prenger-Berninghoff","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ursula","family":"Siebert","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"56","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"S0031182023000501_ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/mec.16635"},{"key":"S0031182023000501_ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1439-0450.1991.tb00924.x"},{"key":"S0031182023000501_ref16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tree.2006.04.007"},{"key":"S0031182023000501_ref29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/9780470377000.ch10"},{"key":"S0031182023000501_ref27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijpara.2005.01.015"},{"key":"S0031182023000501_ref30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1139\/f96-342"},{"key":"S0031182023000501_ref37","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/hdy.2008.18"},{"key":"S0031182023000501_ref11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-022-18418-y"},{"key":"S0031182023000501_ref38","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1053\/jcpa.2000.0436"},{"key":"S0031182023000501_ref44","first-page":"58","article-title":"On parasites of seals from the Dutch coastal waters and their pathogenity","volume":"7","author":"Van Den Broek","year":"1959","journal-title":"S\u00e4ugetrierkundliche Mitteilungen"},{"key":"S0031182023000501_ref39","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jcpa.2007.04.018"},{"key":"S0031182023000501_ref26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s10393-004-0028-3"},{"key":"S0031182023000501_ref13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1139\/z81-197"},{"key":"S0031182023000501_ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scitotenv.2020.142842"},{"key":"S0031182023000501_ref34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7589\/0090-3558-46.2.570"},{"key":"S0031182023000501_ref40","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7589\/2015-11-320"},{"key":"S0031182023000501_ref19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s10152-007-0072-9"},{"key":"S0031182023000501_ref21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s00436-008-1159-1"},{"key":"S0031182023000501_ref20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.seares.2015.06.014"},{"key":"S0031182023000501_ref10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7589\/0090-3558-12.4.531"},{"key":"S0031182023000501_ref15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.1318945111"},{"key":"S0031182023000501_ref25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/00364827.1992.10413483"},{"key":"S0031182023000501_ref32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3354\/meps12510"},{"key":"S0031182023000501_ref50","first-page":"233","article-title":"\u00dcber Erkrankungen von Seehunden aus dem Gebiet der nordfriesischen K\u00fcste","volume":"82","author":"Zimmermann","year":"1975","journal-title":"Deutsche Tier\u00e4rztliche Wochenschrift"},{"key":"S0031182023000501_ref47","unstructured":"Wipper, E (1974) Die \u00f6kologischen und pathologischen Probleme beim europ\u00e4ischen Seehund (Phoca vitulina Linn\u00e8, 1758) an der nieders\u00e4chsischen Nordseek\u00fcste (PhD dissertation). 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