A Survey Study on Gastrointestinal Parasites of Stray Cats in Northern Region of Nile Delta, Egypt

Abstract

A survey study on gastrointestinal parasites in 113 faecal samples from stray cats collected randomly from Kafrelsheikh province, northern region of Nile delta of Egypt; was conducted in the period between January and May 2010. The overall prevalence was 91%. The results of this study reported seven helminth species: Toxocara cati (9%), Ancylostoma tubaeforme (4%), Toxascaris leonina (5%), Dipylidium caninum (5%), Capillaria spp. (3%), Taenia taeniformis (22%) and Heterophyes heterophyes (3%), four protozoal species: Toxoplasma gondii (9%), Sarcocyst spp. (1%), Isospora spp. (2%) and Giardia spp. (2%) and two arthropod species; Linguatula serrata (2%) and mites eggs (13%).The overall prevalence of intestinal parasites may continue to rise due to lack of functional veterinary clinics for cat care in Egypt. Therefore, there is a need to plan adequate control programs to diagnose, treat and control gastrointestinal parasites of companion as well as stray cats in the region.

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).…”

“…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).…”

“…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).…”

“…Various factors likes influence on the parasitic burden in stray cats; geographical region, season of the year, administration of antiparasitic treatment and factors related to population parameters (age, sex, breed) (Mircean et al 2010). Previous studies have usually recorded a high prevalence of parasites in stray and feral cats (Adams et al 2008;Becker et al 2012;Calvete et al 1998;Canto et al 2013;Capari et al 2013;Coman 1972;Duarte et al 2010;Engbaek et al 1984;Jittapalapong et al 2007;Khalafalla 2011;Krecek et al 2010;Labarthe et al 2004;Lefkaditis et al 2014;Millan and Casanova 2009;Ramos et al 2013;Riggio et al 2013;Stoichev et al 1982). In Iran, little is known about the prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites in stray cats.…”

Review of Parasitic Zoonoses in Egypt

“…However, it was detected at a low incidence in dogs [72] and with an incidence of 5% in stray cats [25]. …”