Risk Factors for the Spread of Parasitic Zoonoses among Domestic Cat Owners and Their Families in Rural Areas

Witold Kollataj,Marian Sygit,Irena Dorota Karwat,Barbara Kollataj,Katarzyna Sygit

doi:10.5539/ep.v1n2p148

Abstract

The close animal – human contacts are risky for people especially in cases of any negligence towards proper veterinary care, deworming and vaccination procedures as well as human and cat hygiene. Among possible risks there are parasitic zoonoses threats. The study involved 146 cat owners from selected rural areas in Lublin province. Altogether they possessed 309 cats. A special original inquiry questionnaire was used. The survey was carried out during the period: January 2011– May 2011. Most of polled (84.9%) have reported deworming procedure negligence, 60.4% of polled have never bathed their cats, only 63.7% of cat owners have declared separations of humans’ and cats’ sleeping places, 65.1% of owners have declared no any restrictions concerning cats’ movement around both wild environment and children’s places for fun and recreation. Conclusions: In rural areas, hygiene and veterinary cats care negligence as well as animal – human coexistence conditions may increase the risk of zoonotic parasite diseases spreading.

Highlights

Among the tens of thousands of species described in Central Europe, almost 1/4 of them are parasites
The close animal – human contacts are risky for people especially in cases of any negligence towards proper veterinary care, deworming and vaccination procedures as well as human and cat hygiene
In rural areas, hygiene and veterinary cats care negligence as well as animal – human coexistence conditions may increase the risk of zoonotic parasite diseases spreading

Summary

Introduction

Among the tens of thousands of species described in Central Europe, almost 1/4 of them are parasites. Several dozen of them may affect people, nearly 40 – may live inside the human body, many of such species are parasites posing threats both to humans and domesticated animals including domestic cats. In most cases, human parasite infestations are asymptomatic. It doesn’t mean that the problem of parasitic zoonoses is trivial. Arthropods (Sarcoptes scabiei, Pulex irritans, Ctenocephalides felis) may cause appearance of various difficult to manage cutaneous symptoms, including blistering and contact dermatitis, neuro-cutaneous syndrome (NCS), allergic reaction and secondary infections (Amen, 2001). Pulex irritans and Ctenocephalides felis may be vectors for Dipylidium caninum and such zoonoses as: tularemia, antrax and Lyme borreliosis (Randolph, 2001; Stojčević, Sušić, & Lučinger, 2010)

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