Dogs, cats, parasites, and humans in Brazil: opening the black box

Abstract

Dogs and cats in Brazil serve as primary hosts for a considerable number of parasites, which may affect their health and wellbeing. These may include endoparasites (e.g., protozoa, cestodes, trematodes, and nematodes) and ectoparasites (i.e., fleas, lice, mites, and ticks). While some dog and cat parasites are highly host-specific (e.g., Aelurostrongylus abstrusus and Felicola subrostratus for cats, and Angiostrongylus vasorum and Trichodectes canis for dogs), others may easily switch to other hosts, including humans. In fact, several dog and cat parasites (e.g., Toxoplasma gondii, Dipylidium caninum, Ancylostoma caninum, Strongyloides stercoralis, and Toxocara canis) are important not only from a veterinary perspective but also from a medical standpoint. In addition, some of them (e.g., Lynxacarus radovskyi on cats and Rangelia vitalii in dogs) are little known to most veterinary practitioners working in Brazil. This article is a compendium on dog and cat parasites in Brazil and a call for a One Health approach towards a better management of some of these parasites, which may potentially affect humans. Practical aspects related to the diagnosis, treatment, and control of parasitic diseases of dogs and cats in Brazil are discussed.

Risk factors for gastrointestinal parasite infections of dogs living around protected areas of the Atlantic Forest: implications for human and wildlife health

“…Regarding gastrointestinal parasites, dogs are hosts for several species, including widespread parasites that affect humans such as the helminths Ancylostoma caninum and Toxocara canis (Dantas-Torres and Otranto, 2014). Hookworms (Ancylostoma sp.)…”

Disease: A Hitherto Unexplored Constraint on the Spread of Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) in Pre-Columbian South America

“…(Cantacessi et al 2015;Dantas-Torres and Otranto 2014). Some must have infected people in pre-Columbian times based on osteological (Enciso et al 2001), immunological (Frías et al 2013), and other palaeopathological data (Costa Junqueira et al 2009;Marsteller et al 2011), the recovery of ceramics showing human faces disfigured by what looks like mucocutaneous leishmaniasis (which is restricted to Latin America), and sixteenth-century Spanish descriptions of the disease, though comparable evidence of the almost always fatal visceral form is understandably lacking (Lainson 2012).…”

Ectoparasitos Em Cães De Áreas Peri-Rurais Do Município De Rio Branco, Acre, Amazônia Ocidental

“…Os cães podem ser parasitados por piolhos, ácaros produtores de sarna, pulgas, carrapatos, piolhos e larvas de moscas. O grau de severidade à saúde do hospedeiro é influenciado pela imunidade do mesmo e o tamanho da carga parasitária (DANTAS-TORRES; OTRANTO, 2014).…”

“…Além disso, não é incomum o contato dos cães de áreas rurais de Rio Branco com animais silvestres, outra população de hospedeiros. Ainda é desconhecida a ocorrência de ectoparasitas permutados entre animais silvestres e cães de caça (DANTAS-TORRES; OTRANTO, 2014). Não foram encontrados estudos sobre a ectofauna parasitária em caninos domésticos no município de Rio Branco, Acre, Amazônia Ocidental, desta forma, o objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a epidemiologia de carrapatos, pulgas, piolhos e larvas de miíases em cães oriundos na área peri-rural.…”