Contamination by parasites of zoonotic importance in fecal samples from Florianópolis Beaches, Santa Catarina State, Brazil

Abstract

Helminths and protozoa are examples of endoparasites that, during their biological cycles, can alternate between free-life stages and parasitic stages in the environment. Pets, such as dogs and cats, live together with humans and play a significant role in society; however, these animals may carry many parasites which, besides showing direct pathogenicity to the host, represent risks to human health, as is the case with parasitic zoonoses. Public areas like parks, gardens, squares, and beaches may offer risks to human users since these environments may contain feces deposited by parasitized dogs. This study verified the occurrence of helminth eggs and/or protozoan cysts or oocysts in fecal samples collected from sand strips at the beaches Armação do Pântano do Sul, Campeche and Morro das Pedras, in the south of Florianópolis Island, Santa Catarina State (SC), during the summer period. Pet feces were collected in the 2016-2017 summer season, from December 2016 to February 2017. In the Laboratory of Animal Parasitology (CCA/UFSC), fecal samples were processed based on Willis-Mollay flotation technique and Hoffman sedimentation technique. Samples from all three analyzed beaches were positive for the presence of parasites and fecal material was found along the seashore, sites where people freely walk barefoot. Of 104 fecal samples collected, 45 (43.27%) were positive for one or more parasites. The greatest prevalence was found in Campeche Beach, which had 72.22% positive samples. Ancylostomids were most prevalent, indicating that cutaneous larva migrans is likely to occur in humans. Other parasites such as Trichuris vulpis, Toxocara spp. and Giardia spp. were also detected in coproparasitological analyses. Based on the results, it was concluded that contamination of the beaches in Florianópolis Island, SC, constitutes a public health problem due to the possibility of zoonosis transmission. These results reinforce the importance of establishing health programs for parasite control and education programs to elucidate the risks of transmission of these zoonoses to the population, in an attempt to reduce environmental contamination risks at beaches of seaside resorts.

Parasites with zoonotic potential in pets feces on the beaches of greater Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil

“…It was present in 8% of the contaminated samples at Pinheira Beach and in 13.42% of the positive samples in the south of Florianópolis Island. Other authors in similar studies also verified the presence of this helminth in fecal samples (Bricarello et al, 2018;Ferraz et al, 2019). It is a parasite of zoonotic importance, with a direct life cycle and infection occurs through the ingestion of embryonic eggs contained in the soil (Di Cesare et al, 2012;Jia-Chi et al, 2016).…”

“…was another helminth with zoonotic potential found at Pinheira Beach. Ferraz et al (2019) on the shore at São Lourenço do Sul Beach, Rio Grande do Sul (RS), reported this parasite in fecal samples; Bricarello et al (2018) verified similar results on the southern beaches on the island of Florianópolis. The presence of Toxocara spp.…”

“…Similarly, a study in the 2016/2017 summer season on the beaches of southern Florianópolis, SC, showed even higher occurrence of parasites from dogs and cats, where Campeche Beach presented 72.22% of fecal samples contaminated with hookworm predominance (Bricarello et al, 2018). The occurrence of this helminth was predominant at the Morro das Pedras, Campeche and Pinheira beaches, the same way it was observed in other studies carried out on beaches in Brazil (Blazius et al, 2005;Coronato et al, 2012;Ferraz et al, 2018;Pedrosa et al, 2014;Santos et al, 2006).…”

“…When analyzing studies that apply experimental designs, similar to the present study, it was verified that there is still no standardization as to the lowest experimental n capable of representing, in a sensitive way, the risk estimates related to infection of the zoonoses of interest. Studies were carried out with experimental n ranging from 18 up to 137 for each studied geographic location (Bricarello et al, 2018;Ferraz et al, 2018Ferraz et al, , 2019Santarém et al, 2012). Considering these pieces of information, the present research was carried out with 150 fecal samples representing Pinheira Beach and 149 fecal samples representing the beaches Morro das Pedras and Campeche.…”

“…and protozoa (Giardia spp., Cryptosporidium spp.) (Dantas-Torres & Otranto, 2014;Bricarello et al, 2018;Otranto et al, 2017).…”