A survey on endoparasites and ectoparasites of stray cats from Mashhad (Iran) and association with risk factors

Abstract

As there appeared to be no data available on parasite infection of stray cats in the region and considering the potential threat of stray cats for animal and public health, the present study was carried out using biological samples and necropsy finding collected from cats captured in Mashhad city in the northeast of Iran. From a total 52 stray cats examined, 18 (34.6%) were male and 34 (65.4%) were female. Ten species of endoparasites including helminthes and protozoa and two species of ectoparasites were detected in the examined cats. There were two protozoa, five cestodes, three nematodes and two arthropods. Overall 46 cats (88.46%) have been infected with at least one of the parasites. The following parasites, with their respective prevalence, were found; Nematoda: Toxocara cati 28.84%, Toxocara leonina 7.69%, Physaloptera praeputialis 3.84%; Cestoda: Dipylidium caninum 23.08%, Mesocestoides lineatus 13.46%, Taenia taeniaformis 9.6%, Joyeuxiella echinorhyncoides 7.6% and Taenia hydatigena 1.92%; Protozoa: I. felis 23.7%, Haemobartonella felis 1.92%; Arthropoda: Ctenocephalides felis 1.92% and Cheyletiella blakei 1.92%. Based on our data, there was no significant difference in infection rate between male and female animals. However, the age of the cats were found to be an important risk factor associated with parasitic infection. Our results revealed that zoonotic agents, namely T. cati were present in stray cat colonies in the investigated area. In this respect, appropriate control measures should be taken and it is recommended to determine the most appropriate preventive methods.

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

“…Coman attribute the prevalence of this cestode with the importance of rodent in the diet of these cats (Coman 1972). In our study, the prevalence of the D. caninum was 58 %, which is compatible with the findings of the previous studies done in Brazil (52.6) (Labarthe et al 2004) and Iran (68.1 and 49.5 %) (Arbabi and Hooshyar 2009;Zibaei et al 2007), However, the prevalence of this parasite was higher than the previously recorded rates by other surveys from various countries (Borji et al 2011;Calvete et al 1998;Canto et al 2013;Dalimi and Mobedi 1992;Jittapalapong et al 2007;Khalafalla 2011;Lefkaditis et al 2014;Raji et al 2013;Ramos et al 2013). High prevalence of this parasite in resent survey could be due to the fact that D. caninum requires fleas as intermediary hosts and cats infected after ingesting infected fleas (Labarthe et al 2004).…”

“…High prevalence of this parasite in resent survey could be due to the fact that D. caninum requires fleas as intermediary hosts and cats infected after ingesting infected fleas (Labarthe et al 2004). T. hydatigera prevalence of 24 % found in the current study was higher than that reported by Borji et al (2011) Furthermore, compared with some previous studies, such as; 5 % in Egypt (Khalafalla 2011), 7.69 and12.9 % in Iran (Borji et al 2011;Zibaei et al 2007), 11.9 % in Brazil (Labarthe et al 2004), 1 % in Mexico (Canto et al 2013), 3.33 % in Nigeria (Raji et al 2013), the prevalence of T. leonine was higher (30 %). But Lefkaditis et al (2014) detected a rate of 93 % in Greece (Lefkaditis et al 2014).…”

“…However, another invisible factor or reason or the common occurrence of this parasite can be attributed to the role of some intermediary, such as rodents and invertebrates, in the life cycle of T cati and in the diet of stray cats (Adams et al 2008). 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).…”

“…Moreover, the most common helminth parasites, detected in our study, were M. lineatus (78 %) and T. cati (78 %). The prevalence of T. cati infection was higher than the estimated prevalence previously found in Christmas Island (53.57 %) (Adams et al 2008), Northern Germany (27.1 %) (Becker et al 2012), Spain (55.2 %) (Calvete et al 1998), Mexico (3 %) (Canto et al 2013), Hungary (17.4 %) (Capari et al 2013), Thailand (3.5 %) (Jittapalapong et al 2007), Egypt (9 %) (Khalafalla 2011), India (4 %) (Krecek et al 2010), Brazil (25.2 %) (Labarthe et al 2004), Greece (18.14 %) (Lefkaditis et al 2014), Spain (35 %) (Millan and Casanova 2009), Romania (20.3 %) (Mircean et al 2010), Australia (3.2 %), (Palmer et al 2008), Nigeria (16.67 %) (Raji et al 2013), England (34.8 %) (Nichol et al 1981), Brazil (4.11 %) (Ramos (Riggio et al 2013), Argentina (61.2 %) (Sommerfelt et al 2006), Northern Italy (33.1 %) (Spada et al 2013), as well as in Iranian contexts including Shiraz (42.6 %) (Zibaei et al 2007), Northern Iran (44 %) (Sharif et al 2007), Mashhad (28.84 %) (Borji et al 2011), North of Iran (8 %) (Changizi et al 2007), Isfahan (13 %) (Jamshidi et al 2002), Tehran (42.31 %) (Mirzayans 1973), Kashan (13.3) (Arbabi and Hooshyar 2009), Ahvaz (8.3 %), Tehran (23 %) (Bahadori et al 2004), However, similar prevalence of T. cati infection has been recorded in Denmark (79 %) by Engbaek et al (1984). The most likely reasons for the increased prevalence of T. cati in our studies were the poor hygiene, lack of anthelmintics drug used in stray cats, the presence of high humidity, and moderate temperatures (Arbabi and Hooshyar 2009).…”

“…The small intestine of each cats was detach from the mesenterium, then was cut longitudinally, immersed in phosphate buffered saline (pH 7.2) for 10 min and the mucosa was scraped with the blades of scalpel, thereafter, both the contents of the gut and scraping of the mucosa were washed with tap water in sieve NO. 60 and examined with the naked eyes as well as under a stereomicroscope (Borji et al 2011;Zibaei et al 2007). The examination of livers and lungs were done in two steps.…”