Toxocara catiinfections in stray cats in northern Iran

Abstract

A cross-sectional survey was undertaken to study the prevalence and intensity of infection with Toxocara cati in 100 stray cats, from April to October 2004 in urban areas of Sari, northern Iran. A total of 44 cats (44%) were found to be infected with T. cati. There was a significant difference in the prevalence of infection relative to host age and weight (P = 0.000). There was also a significant difference in the intensity of infection relative to body weight and urban sites (P < 0.05). No significant difference was found between the prevalence of infection relative to host gender, urban sites and season (P>0.05), nor in the intensity of infection between host gender, age and season (P>0.05). The intensity of infection ranged from 1 to 32 worms per cat, with a mean of 7.30 +/- 6.82.

Survey of helminth parasites of cats from the metropolitan area of Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brazil

“…Adult animals may have a chronic (compensated) hookworm infection usually without signs, as well as older animals that are more weakened may show a secondary (decompensated) hookworm disease usually associated with malnutrition and immunosuppression (BOWMAN, 2010), which supports the presence of adult animals with high MIP, since most of them were stray animals, nutritionally debilitated and with no preventive anthelmintic treatment (unpublished data). Bowman et al (2002) and Sharif et al (2007) described T. cati as one of the most common parasites of cats around the world, but its prevalence is not always high, ranging from 0.8% (ABU-MADI et al, 2008) to 55.2% (CALVETE et al, 1998). Labarthe et al (2004) using a methodology similar to the one described in this study, found prevalence of 25.2% for T. cati in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.…”

“…These animals were derived from capture in public areas and euthanized according to the protocol of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), Guidelines on Euthanasia (AVMA, 2001). As described by Sharif et al (2007), based on dental development, maturation of genital structure and body size, the specimens were divided by sex and into adult (1.5-3.0 kg) and young (≤1.4 kg) age groups, and then necropsied (UENO; GONÇALVES, 2010). This study was approved by the Ethics Committee on Animal Research of the Federal University of Mato Grosso (Protocol N o .…”

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

“…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).…”

Hematological values associated to the serological and molecular diagnostic in cats suspected of Ehrlichia canisinfection

“…Anamnestic data (age, sex, and history of tick infestation) and hematological alterations were evaluated. To define age, cats with a body mass of less than 1.5 kg were considered young, while cats weighing ≥ 1.5 kg were considered adults, based on their dental arcade, according to the study of Sharif et al (2007). To better evaluate the IFA results, the samples were grouped according to serological titers: Titers between 1:40 and 1:640 (Group A) and titers between 1:1,280 and 1:40,960 (Group B).…”