Prevalence of Intestinal Parasitoses in Dogs within a Vulnerable Area of Ensenada, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina

Abstract

The potential role of dogs as reservoirs of zoonotic infections is one of the major public health problems. Water emergency areas are generally vulnerable zones with a lack of care from the owners who do not have the basic sanitary service conditions. Dogs often feed on waste detecting coprophagia of human faeces facilitated by the final disposal of excreta in open-air defecation. The objective of this research was to determine the presence of intestinal parasitoses in dogs from a sanitary risk area inhabited by a vulnerable human population. Dog faeces were collected by an enema with a soapy solution and processed by the Telemann’s sedimentation technique as well as the Sheather’s flotation procedure besides a direct examination. A number of 703 (79.3%) analyzed dog faeces were parasitized from a total of 886. Ancylostoma caninum (57%), Toxocara canis (24%) and Uncinaria stenocephala (21%) were the most frequent species. The specific richness in the dog population was 17 species. The highest parasitosis frequency was observed among male dogs and those under one-year aged for the total parasitized ones with T. canis, Cystoisospora canis, C. ohioensis, and Giardia spp. High prevalences found in dogs from the present study could indicate that both diagnosis and treatment are not enough to achieve sustainable changes in vulnerable areas. Actions addressed to the environmental factor are essentials in order to avoid reinfections.