The State of Knowledge on Intestinal Helminths in Free-Roaming Dogs in Southern South America

Abstract

In South America there are more dogs per person than in developed countries. Many owners allow their dogs to roam freely in public areas, which favours the spread of zoonotic diseases. The objective of this work is to describe, through bibliographic analysis, the occurrence, prevalence, species richness, and distribution of intestinal helminth parasites found in dog faeces from urban and rural areas of southern South America (Argentina-Chile-Uruguay). Using three databases, we performed a systematic review of articles published between 2000 and 2020 in indexed journals. A total of 219 articles was evaluated for eligibility, and of these 67 were included in the final analysis; 48 correspond to Argentina, 17 to Chile, and 2 to Uruguay. The total number of parasite taxa recorded was 22, the most frequently occurring species being Toxocara canis, Ancylostoma sp., Trichuris vulpis and Echinococcus sp. Species richness was correlated with sample size and varied between 1 and 10 species. In addition, disease risk is not homogeneously distributed. Due to the high infection levels in dogs, urban and rural dwellers are at risk of infection with zoonotic diseases transmitted by these animals, therefore a One Health approach to public health would be advisable.

Canine parasitoses in north Patagonia (Argentina): comparison between different social and environmental factors

“…In other studies, both urban and rural, the presence of freeroaming dogs significantly increased the probability of being positive (Santos et al 2021;Flores et al 2022;Natalini et al 2020). Although the problem of free-roaming pet dogs is common in many Latin American cities (Ritossa et al 2021) and is associated with socioeconomic and cultural contexts, in the current study this variable did not have a significant effect on the probability of finding positive samples. This is the first study on canine parasitoses in Argentina to include socioeconomic and environmental variables in a comparison of two cities.…”

“…Among the zoonotic parasitoses associated with dogs in tropical, subtropical and temperate regions are toxocariasis, cystic echinococcosis (CE) and visceral leishmaniasis, (Otranto et al 2017). Some parasites registered in South America, such as Echinococcus granulosus, T. canis and Ancylostoma caninum (Chagas et al 2019;Ritossa et al 2021), can cause diverse zoonotic diseases like CE and the larva migrans visceral and cutaneous syndromes (Amundson Romich 2008). Other parasites, like Trichuris vulpis, are distributed throughout the world but rarely transmitted to humans.…”

Global prevalence and epidemiology of Strongyloides stercoralis in dogs: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Dogs are among the most popular companion animals with a considerable positive impact on the psychological and physiological conditions of their owners [ 30 , 31 ]. This close relationship with dogs, however, can pose certain risks with the potential of dogs transmitting a broad range of zoonotic pathogens, including viruses, bacteria, parasites and fungi [ 32 – 34 ]. Regarding S. stercoralis , some genotypes are dog specific while others can infect dogs and humans; hence, dogs could be reservoirs of zoonotic S. stercoralis [ 6 , 13 , 35 ].…”