Abstract
Several developments have been recently achieved to understand pet-dog parasites and their relationship with hosts; however, parasites' presence and distribution in shepherd-dog have been mainly neglected; this knowledge gap is of critical sanitary importance, as shepherd-dogs could harbor zoonotic helminths including Echinococcus granulosus sensu lato. The related human disease, cystic echinococcosis, is a worldwide neglected disease, with high endemicity in the Mediterranean Basin. To evaluate the presence of E. granulosus and other parasites, a sheep-dog population from the province of Grosseto (Tuscany, Italy) has been investigated. Overall, 648 dog fecal samples obtained from 50 modern sheep farms, having a total of 216 dogs, were collected. Specimens were analyzed using a standardized centrifugal flotation method (specific gravity = 1.3). Taeniid eggs detected were further isolated using a sieving/flotation technique. DNA was isolated from eggs for PCR and sequence analyses for species identification (gene target: 12S rRNA and nad1). Thirty-nine (78%) farms tested positive for at least one parasite species or genus. The most represented intestinal helminths were Toxocara spp. in 64% of farms, followed by Ancylostomatidae (58%), Trichuris vulpis (50%), Capillaria spp. (34%), and taeniids (32%). Sequence analyses confirmed the presence of Taenia hydatigena in seven farms, Taenia (syn. Multiceps) multiceps in five farms, and T. pisiformis in one farm. No DNA was extracted from four previously taeniid egg-positive farms. No amplification of amplicon corresponding to E. granulosus was achieved in the investigated farms. Although not entirely expected, Spearman's test showed a positive correlation between flock size and the number of dogs per farm (ρ = 0.588, P < 0.001). The quantitative analysis reported that the home slaughter practice was affected neither by the flock size nor by the number of dogs per farm. The probability to diagnose farms positive for taeniids had been increased by about 35% for each dog unit increase [odds ratio (OR) = 1.35, P = 0.012]. In conclusion, the wide distribution of T. hydatigena and T. multiceps detected in the present study clearly reveals that dogs have still access to raw offal, a major risk for the transmission of E. granulosus. Home slaughtering is an unavoidable practice, and more efforts must be undertaken by the public health system to prevent and control potential zoonotic taeniids.
Highlights
Progress has been recently made to increase scientific knowledge of pet-dog parasites [1], the same has not been done for shepherd-dog helminths
The present study offered useful information on the distribution of endoparasites, taeniids, in shepherd-dogs from Maremma’s (Tuscany region) sheep farms and provided interesting insights on a few practices commonly adopted by farmers
Assuming that the larger the flock size the more advanced the management systems adopted by the farm, the sampled farms were slightly more technologized than the non-responding ones; this aspect might have represented a selection bias, which resulted in an underestimation of parasite frequencies
Summary
Progress has been recently made to increase scientific knowledge of pet-dog parasites [1], the same has not been done for shepherd-dog helminths. The incommunicability between pastoralist world and public health system makes the picture even hazier This is primarily due to the different interests involving the two categories [2]. CE appears differently distributed across the Italian peninsula, showing a hyper-endemic diffusion in the south and being considered sporadic in the north [7, 8]. This should not be surprising since sheep domestication started around the fifth century B.C. in the Fertile Crescent [9], and dog breeding for guard and hunting intents started around 15,000 B.P. Dogs and sheep have maintained a strong connection at farm level, sharing parasites. Singh et al [11] report that around 60% of the interviewed farmers from New Zealand fed dogs by using homeslaughtered “meat.”
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