Descriptive epidemiology of intestinal helminth parasites from stray cat populations in Qatar

Abstract

A total of 488 stray cats, 212 adult and 29 juvenile females plus 235 adult and 12 juvenile males, were examined post-mortem during the winter and summer months of 2006 from five sites in the vicinity of Doha and its outskirts. Five helminths, comprising three nematode and two cestode species were identified and the majority of cats harboured two of these species. The most prevalent was the cestodeTaenia taeniaeformis(75.8%), followed by the cestodeDiplopylidiumsp. (42.8%), and the nematodesAncylostoma tubaeforme(17.0%),Physalopterasp. (6.6%) andToxocara cati(0.8%). All five species were found to be typically overdispersed in their distribution. Using univariate and multivariate analyses, the prevalence and abundance of infections were primarily influenced by host gender and season, with females tending to harbour higher levels of infection during the summer. No significant differences were found relative to site except in the case ofPhysalopterasp. Using bivariate Pearson product moment correlations, significant positive co-occurrences were identified betweenDiplopylidiumsp. andT. taeniaeformisand also betweenA. tubaeformeandT. taeniaeformis. The results are discussed in relation to the effect of environmental conditions on the intestinal helminth infracommunities and their possible interactions in stray cat populations from such a harsh and arid region as Qatar.

A survey study on gastrointestinal parasites of stray cats in Azarshahr, (East Azerbaijan province, Iran)

“…M. lineatus was the dominant tapeworm reported in our study with a prevalence rate of 79 % which was higher than that reported in Spain (13.8 %) (Calvete et al 1998), Italy (1.2 %) (Riggio et al 2013), Iran (13.4 and 8 %) (Arbabi and Hooshyar 2009;Borji et al 2011). The T. taeniaeformis prevalence (60 %) was relatively similar to that found by Coman (1972) in Australia (78 %), Stoichev et al (1982) in Bulgaria (75.5 %), Abu-Madi et al (2008) in Qatar (74 %) and Borthakur and Mukharjee (2011) in India (70.4 %) but the prevalence rate of this cestode in our study was higher than that recorded in Spain (8.6 and 22 %) (Calvete et al 1998;Millan and Casanova 2009), Nile Delta of Egypt (22 %) (Khalafalla 2011), Christmas Island (7.14 %) (Adams et al 2008), Greece (8.37 %) (Lefkaditis et al 2014), Mexico (4 %) (Canto et al 2013), Nigeria (6.67 %) (Raji et al 2013), Brazil (0.68 %) (Ramos et al 2013) and Iran (2, 9.6, 15, 12.3 and 9.2 %) (Arbabi and Hooshyar 2009;Borji et al 2011;Changizi et al 2007;Jamshidi et al 2012;Zibaei et al 2007). Coman attribute the prevalence of this cestode with the importance of rodent in the diet of these cats (Coman 1972).…”

Survey of helminth parasites of cats from the metropolitan area of Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brazil

“…and Toxocara sp., which play an important role in public health, show the need to develop control programs aiming to decrease the occurrence of helminths in animals and possible exposure to these zoonotic agents to humans in public urban areas. Labarthe et al (2004) and Abu-Madi et al (2008) presented similar prevalence levels to P. praeputialis. Infections by these worms are often associated with vomiting, and the adults are often viewed during endoscopy (BOWMAN, 2010).…”

“…Adult animals may have a chronic (compensated) hookworm infection usually without signs, as well as older animals that are more weakened may show a secondary (decompensated) hookworm disease usually associated with malnutrition and immunosuppression (BOWMAN, 2010), which supports the presence of adult animals with high MIP, since most of them were stray animals, nutritionally debilitated and with no preventive anthelmintic treatment (unpublished data). Bowman et al (2002) and Sharif et al (2007) described T. cati as one of the most common parasites of cats around the world, but its prevalence is not always high, ranging from 0.8% (ABU-MADI et al, 2008) to 55.2% (CALVETE et al, 1998). Labarthe et al (2004) using a methodology similar to the one described in this study, found prevalence of 25.2% for T. cati in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.…”

“…Other organs such as the liver and lungs may also be affected by helminths, and despite not presenting zoonotic potential, they may be a frequent cause of risks to the health of their hosts, especially Platynosomum fastosum, which causes hepatic diseases in cats (FERREIRA et al, 1999;XAVIER et al, 2007), and Aelurostrongylus abstrusus, in cardiopulmonary cases (TRAVERSA et al, 2010). Despite the extensive parasitic fauna described in cats (BOWMAN et al, 2002), studies have shown, by examination of fecal samples or necropsies of cats, that parasitic fauna varies across geographical regions according to season, rural or urban areas, and other factors (CALVETE et al, 1998;LABARTHE et al, 2004;ABU-MADI et al, 2008;GATES;NOLAN, 2009).…”

Helminth burden in stray cats from Thessaloniki, Greece

“…Previous studies have usually recorded a high prevalence of parasites in stray and feral cats (McColm and Hutchison, 1980;Nichol et al, 1981;Calvete et al, 1998;Changizi et al, 2007;Abu-Madi et al, 2008;Schuster et al, 2009). Limited data is available on the helminth burden in cats from Greece (Haralampidis, 1977).…”