The prevalence of intestinal parasites in dogs from Prague, rural areas, and shelters of the Czech Republic

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Abstract

The prevalence of intestinal parasites was evaluated by examination of dog faecal samples in the Prague city centre, agricultural areas, and two shelters. The overall prevalence of parasites (i.e., protozoa and helminths, mentioned below) in Prague was 17.6%. Toxocara canis was the most common parasite, and was recovered from 6.2% of dogs, followed by Cystoisospora spp. (2.4%), Cryptosporidium spp. (1.4%), Trichuris sp. (1.1%), Taenia-type (1.0%), Giardia spp. (0.1%), Toxascaris sp. (0.9%), Dipylidium sp. (0.7%), Sarcocystis spp. (0.6%), Capillaria spp. (0.6%), Neospora/Hammondia spp. (0.5%), Ancylostoma sp. (0.4%), Uncinaria sp. (0.4%), and Spirocerca sp. (0.2%). The prevalence of infections with helminths and protozoans in two animal shelters in Prague was examined at the dog's admittance ir reception to the shelters and during housing. T. canis eggs (6.5%), Cystoisospora (4.4%), and Giardia (3.3%) cysts were the most prevalent. Significant increases in the prevalence of some parasites were found after a stay in the shelter. Giardia spp. showed an 11-fold increase in prevalence of dogs placed in the shelters for a longer time; Cryptosporidium spp. had a 7-fold increase, Capillaria spp. a 5-fold, Spirocerca sp., Neospora/Hammondia spp., and Cystoisospora spp. a 4-fold increase over dogs examined at the time of admittance to the shelter (p < 0.01).

Dog in rural areas were infected significantly more frequently (p < 0.01) than those in Prague. In 540 faecal samples from rural areas, the overall prevalence of parasites (i.e., protozoa and helminths mentioned below) was 41.7%. The prevalence of T. canis was 13.7%, followed by Cystoisospora spp. (8.0%), Taenia spp. (3.5%), Sarcocystis spp. (3.0%), Giardia spp. (2.2%), Cryptosporidium spp. (2.0%), Trichuris sp. (1.7%), Toxascaris sp. (1.7%), Dipylidium sp. (1.3%), Neospora/Hammondia spp. (1.3%), Spirocerca sp. (1.1%), Uncinaria sp. (0.9%), Ancylostoma sp. (0.7%), and Capillaria spp. (0.6%).

Examinations of dogs in urban and rural areas showed, with the exception of Trichuris sp. in Prague, a higher occurrence of nematode infection in autumn, notably T. canis (χ2 > 8.3, d.f. = 3, p < 0.04).

Introduction

Many potentially zoonotic organisms of parasitic origin are associated with dogs. Since the number of dogs bred in cities (and in rural areas) has recently been increasing worldwide, the risk of their parasites has been expected to increase as well. There are several endoparasites in dogs: Toxocara canis, Ancylostoma caninum, Giardia, Cryptosporidium, Echinococcus, Dipylidium caninum, and recently also Uncinaria spp., which can cause occasional infections of humans and can even develop in to a disease, though not very frequently (Svobodová et al., 1994).

There have been some surveys performed in the Czech Republic in the past (Vokoun and Slezáková, 1977, Valkounová, 1981, Kuchařová, 1989, Svobodová et al., 1994, Svobodová et al., 1995), and recently, for instance by Uhlíková and Hubner (1999), Svobodová (2003), and Borkovcová (2003). Results of these studies showed that the change of parasitic infection is moderate, depending on various factors (age, locality, origin of dog, etc.). Svobodová et al. (1995) confirmed ascarids (T. canis) in 17% of dogs. She monitored the prevalence of parasitic infections and the general parasitical situation in the environment of shelters for dogs and cats (Svobodová, 2003). She detected infections primarily with T. canis (prevalence 6.2–14.3%), D. caninum (4.54–7.14%), Trichuris vulpis (4.16–10.52%), and Giardia intestinalis (18.18–36.8%). Borkovcová (2003) reported the prevalence of T. canis eggs in 9.5%, Toxascaris leonina 0.8%, D. caninum 2.3%, Trichuris vulpis 4.1%, and Giardia spp. 0.4%.

In Poland, the situation was monitored recently by Borecka (2005), who investigated the prevalence in intestinal nematodes of dogs in the Warsaw area. She found eggs of T. canis, T. leonina, T. vulpis, and Ancylostomatidae (A. caninum and U. stenocephala) in dog faeces. The prevalence of infection with parasitic nematodes in adult dogs from shelters was very high (71.2%). It was considerably higher than for rural dogs and household dogs. The most frequent parasite eggs in all groups of dogs were from the Ancylostomatidae.

Fok et al. (2001) observed a moderate rate of incidence of some parasites in eastern and northern regions of Hungary. The prevalence of eggs (%) in urban and rural areas was as follows: T. canis (24.3–30.1); Trichuris vulpis (20.4–23.3); Ancylostomatidae (8.1–13.1); Capillaria spp. (0–7.3); Toxascaris leonina (0–2.1); Taenia-type (2.4–2.8); and D. caninum (0.4–1).

In many studies the most commonly found parasite is T. canis, 17.4% reported in Belgium (Vanparijs and Hermans, 1991), 6.9% in Switzerland (Sager et al., 2006), and 16.6% in Slovakia (Antolová et al., 2004). In Utrecht, The Netherlands, the prevalence of T. canis in family-dogs was very low—2.1% (Overgaauw, 1994).

Understanding the epidemiology of zoonotic parasitic infections is important for the minimization of risks to humans. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites in dogs inhabiting the metropolitan area of Prague and to compare the parasite intensities in stray dogs in shelters and in rural dogs.

Section snippets

Study area

During a 3-year period, from January 1998 to December 2000, we collected a total of 3780 samples of dog faeces from streets, grass strips along streets, and parks of the city of Prague. The faeces originated mostly from privately owned dogs. Stray dogs practically do not occur in Prague, as dogs on the loose are quickly caught and transported to a shelter. The samples were collected in each of seven districts of Prague once a month for 3 years, thus allowing us to review individual differences

Results

Gastrointestinal parasites in dog excretions in Prague are shown in Table 1. Evaluation of the faeces samples indicated that 17.6% of samples were infected with at least one of the following parasites: Toxocara spp., Toxascaris sp., Ancylostoma sp., Uncinaria sp., Trichuris sp., Capillaria spp., Taenia-type, Dipylidium sp., Sarcocystis spp., Cystoisospora spp., Neospora/Hammondia spp., and Giardia spp. Agents with zoonotic potential were detected in the faeces from 10.1% of samples, including

Discussion

Understanding the epidemiology of zoonotic parasitic infections is important for minimization of the risk to humans. Zoonoses involving dog parasites are both common and important, with some causing serious disease. First of all, Toxocara spp. (T. canis) are capable of infecting and inducing disease (larva migrans syndromes) in human beings who accidentally ingest the infective stages (eggs or larvae, respectively).

The present epidemiological investigation revealed that T. canis is the most

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Research Project of the Faculty of Agrobiology, Food, and Natural Resources, Czech University of Agriculture in Prague, No. MSM 6046070901. The authors thank Mr. Jan Piet van Til for his kind help.

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