Prevalence, risk factors and antimicrobial susceptibility profile of <i>Salmonella</i> isolated from dogs of Ambo, Bako and Gojo towns of West Shoa, Ethiopia

Abstract

Salmonella is the most known zoonotic bacterial agent, which produces salmonellosis in animals as wells as in humans. The objectives of this study were to estimate the prevalence, to determine antimicrobial susceptibility and to assess risk factors associated with Salmonella shedding in dogs in selected towns of West Shoa Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia. Using a cross-sectional design, a total of 438 rectal swab samples were collected from randomly selected dogs for isolation and identification of Salmonella using standard procedures. A questionnaire survey was also administered. The results showed that 48 (11.0%, 95%, [CI]: 8.2%-14.3 %) dogs were positive for Salmonella.The occurrenceof Salmonella was 10.9% (26/238), 11.6% (15/129) and 9.9% (7/71) in Ambo, Bako and Gojo towns respectively. Salmonella shedding was significantly higher in older dogs (15.0%) than younger ones (6.1 %) (P<0.05). The occurrence of Salmonella was not significantly associated with study towns, sex, breed of dogs,educational level of owners, presence of other domestic animals and housing system(P>0.05). Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that the odds of isolation of Salmonella was significantly higher in old than young dogs (OR): 2.6, 95% CI: 1.3-5.6, P=0.007) and in dogs eating mixed type of feeds (raw animal products, household leftover) than cooked feed (OR = 9.0, 95% CI: 1.2-68.1, P=0.033). There was also a significant difference between kebeles of the study areas in that Salmonella isolation was nearly nine times higher in Bako Kebele 02 (P=0.005) as compared to Ambo kebele 03. Salmonella isolates have developed the highest level of resistance for ampicillin (100%), tetracycline 60

Isolation, antimicrobial susceptibility patterns, and risk factors assessment of non-typhoidal Salmonella from apparently healthy and diarrheic dogs

“…Furthermore, Sultan et al [ 38 ] and Kiflu et al [ 15 ] reported insignificant difference in the prevalence of Salmonella between age groups examined. In contrary to our finding, Núñez-Castro et al [ 61 ] from Mexico reported that dogs under 1 year are more likely to acquire Salmonella than dogs older than 1 year, while Zewdu et al [ 39 ] from Ethiopia reported that older dogs harbor more Salmonella than younger dogs. Often it is difficult to compare different findings, because different age profiles are seen in different studies and it is confounded by differences in sampled population lifestyles and owners dog caring practices.…”

“…In our findings, there was no significance difference between medium, fat and thin body condition score of the dogs, which is in accordance with the reports of Kiflu et al [ 15 ], Sultan et al [ 38 ], and Zewdu et al [ 39 ], in that insignificant difference in the prevalence of Salmonella was recorded between body condition categories of studied dogs. Similarly, our study didn’t show significance difference between age categories of dogs.…”

“…This higher prevalence of Salmonella in diarrheic dogs is supported by previous findings in different parts of the globe [ 8 , 41 – 43 ]. However, authors like Sultan et al [ 38 ] and Zewdu et al [ 39 ] reported that the prevalence did not vary significantly between clinically healthy and diarrheic dogs in Ethiopia.…”

“…In contrary, previous studies from Taiwan [ 24 ], Ontario [ 42 ], and Mexico [ 60 ] showed insignificant difference among male and female dogs. Similarly, from Ethiopia various authors indicated that the prevalence didn’t vary significantly among sex categories of studied dogs [ 15 , 38 , 39 ]. These disparities might not in fact reflect a real phenomenon, but just statistical variation resulting from confounding factors/variables.…”

“…In Ethiopia, pet dogs are integral part of the society, which is evidenced by household’s dog ownership ranging from 33 to 40.5% in towns [ 36 , 37 ] and 75.5% in rural communities [ 37 ]. Despite the increasing urbanization in major towns of Ethiopia, only few studies have shown the status of Salmonella in housed dogs [ 15 , 38 , 39 ]. Moreover, these studies failed to provide detailed information on the risk factors for dog salmonellosis and there is limited information on the antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of clinical isolates.…”