Prevalence of Intestinal Helminthes of Dogs That Have Been Disposed Off At Non-Descript Abattoirs in Zaria, Nigeria

Abstract

Parasitological investigation of dogs disposed off in nondescript abattoirs was carried out in two communities (Basawa and Angwagodo) in Zaria. Intestines from seventy (70) adult dogs were collected, and standard procedures were followed to determine their parasite loads. A total of sixty-three dogs (90.00%) were positive for different species of helminthes. The helminthes recovered were Dipylidium caninum, Taenia spp, Ancylostoma caninum and Toxocara canis. D. caninum was present in thirty five dogs (50.00%), Taenia spp in twenty dogs (28.57%). Ancylostoma caninum in twenty five dogs (35.71%) and Toxocara canis in four dogs (5.71%). There were no statistically significant associations between the location of study and frequency of recovery of each helminthes (P>0.05). Toxocara canis was only detected at Angwagodo. The mean worm load by location was higher at Angwagodo (24.59+55.03) than Basawa (8.66+9.44). The sex of the dog had no significant effect on the recovery of each helminthes (P>0.05). However, female dogs had a higher worm load (22.14+57.41) than the male dogs (12.12+18.44). The result of this study suggests that about 90% of the dog population in Zaria may be contributing to the contamination of the environment with eggs of zoonotic helminthes.

Zoonotic Gastrointestinal Helminthes of Household Dogs in Sokoto, Nigeria

“…The common species of zoonotic helminthes parasite observed in this study was A. caninum (22.33%), this is in agreement with other similar studies in Nigeria 1,15,16 There was no statistical significance difference between the male and female dogs in terms of detection rate.…”

“…Eggs of different species of helminthes (nematodes and cestodes) were demonstrated in this study. Similar observations were made by previous studies in Tanzania 12 , Ethiopia 13,14 and in Nigeria 1,14,15,16 .…”

“…The overall prevalence of gastrointestinal helminthes (72.06%) was similar to that reported by Mahmuda 15 and that from different ecological and epidemiological settings in Nigeria 1,14,16 .…”

“…The number of gastrointestinal helminth species per host shows that single helminth infection was more common, poly-parasitism with more than three helminth species was less frequently observed. A similar pattern was observed by 1,12,16 . These observations are in agreement with report of 27 who explained that interactions among parasitic species depend on parasite burden rather than the mere presence of other species.…”

Spatial Distribution of Ancylostomiasis in Soil of Slums of Northren Lahore

“…Freshly collected and examined faecal material of dogs showed high prevalence as compared to the frozen one (Cringoli et al 2011). In the case of the nematodes, A.caninum had a high prevalence (35.71%) (Ugwoke et al 2011). In Malaysia 221 faecal samples of dogs were examined, 48 % were found positive for A.caninum infestation, 71.4 % rural stray dogs and 48 % in urban were naturally infected (Mahdy et al 2012).…”