Prevalence of helminth parasites of dogs in Lusaka, Zambia

Abstract

Eighty-five dogs were examined and the numbers and types of helminth parasites found were recorded. Forty per cent of the dogs were infected with one or more helminth parasites. The most prevalent helminths were the cestodes Dipylidium caninum (24.7%) and Taenia hydatigena (17.64%). Infections were evenly distributed with sex of host. Juvenile dogs were more commonly infected with Toxocara canis than adults whereas all other helminths were found more in adult dogs.

Ulnar mononeuropathy associated with eosinophilia

“…In the previous study conducted in Lusaka, Islam and Chizyuka (1983) found nine helminth species, of which all but two (T. leonina and E. granulosus) also were identified in the present study. In addition, Sarcocystis sp., Isospora sp., Physaloptera sp., Capillaria sp., Mesocestoides sp., T. vulpis, S. mansoni, Ascaris sp.…”

“…From the study of Islam and Chizyuka (1983), it can be speculated that A. caninum and A. braziliense are the dominant species among strongyles. Since A. braziliense is more frequently involved in cutaneous larva migrans than A. caninum (Bowman, 2009), species identification of Ancylostoma by molecular methods should be considered in future studies for public health risk assessment.…”

“…Indeed, it has been reported that metacestodes of E. granulosus were routinely found in lungs and livers of cattle at abattoirs in Lusaka (Pandey, 1987;Pandey and Sharma, 1987). Unfortunately, no information is available on the prevalence of canine parasites from that region except for one report in which a parasitic helminth necropsy survey was conducted with 85 dogs in Lusaka, revealing the existence of various parasites such as D. caninum (25% in prevalence), T. hydatigena (18%), Toxocara canis (14%), Ancylostoma caninum (8%), Toxascaris leonina (7%), Ancylostoma braziliensis (2%), Spirocerca lupi (2%) and E. granulosus (1%) (Islam and Chizyuka, 1983).…”

Occurrence of Endoparasites in Indigenous Zambian Dogs

“…They found a much lower prevalence of Ancylostoma spp. eggs (10 %) and other helminths; however, they acknowledged that there selection of dogs were those from a better cared for and more restricted background than those used in other studies[4].All of the parasite species detected in our study were also found in other regions of Zambia by other authors, however, their studies exhibited a larger species richness[4,7]. Theydetected the following additional parasites: family Teniidae, Toxocara canis, Diphyllobothrium spp., Spirocera lupi, Echinococcus granulosus, Sarcocystis spp., Physaloptera spp., Capillaria spp., Mesocestoides spp., Ascaris spp., Trichuris vulpis, and Schistosoma mansoni.…”

“…As only the classical faecal egg examination was undertaken in this study, it was not possible to distinguish between the morphologically similar eggs of the Ancylostomatidae family. A second study conducted by I s l a m and C h i z y u k a[4] further North in Zambia found the species to be Ancylostoma caninum and Ancylostoma braziliense. They found a much lower prevalence of Ancylostoma spp.…”