Responses of the Nigerian local breed of dogs to single pulse, trickle and trickle non-escalated patterns of Ancylostoma caninum infections

Abstract

Background: Evidence abounds that Nigerian Local Breed of Dogs (NLBD) is highly susceptible to naturally acquired Ancylostoma caninum infection but there are very little or no information on their responses to experimental infection. Hence, the responses of the NLBD to varying patterns of A. caninum infection were investigated. Methodology: Sixteen NLBD aged 6-7 months and assigned into 3 infection groups (A-C) of 4 dogs each and 1 uninfected control group (D) were used for the study. Groups A, B and C dogs were each orally infected with 1000 L3 of A. caninum by a single pulse, trickle non-escalated and trickle escalated infection patterns, respectively. Faecal Egg Counts (FEC), body weight (Bwt), Red Blood Cell (RBC) count, Packed Cell Volume (PCV), total serum protein (TP), serum albumin (ALB) levels and adult Worm Burden (WB) were evaluated. Results: The FEC of the dogs in group A was significantly (p<0.05) higher than those in groups B and C, whereas dogs in group C had significantly (p<0.05) higher WB than those of groups A and B. The pattern of infection had significant (p<0.05) effect on the PCV, RBC counts and body weight of the dogs, the effect being greatest on group A dogs which had significantly (p<0.05) lower mean values of these parameters than groups B and C. The mean TP and ALB levels of the dogs in group A were significantly (p<0.05) lower than those of groups B and C. Conclusion: The study showed that trickle infection led to higher WB but lesser FEC and pathological effects than the single pulse infection.