Intestinal parasites of zoonotic importance in dogs from the District of General Pueyrredón (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Abstract

Dog feces harbouring infective parasitic forms (Iarves, eggs, cysts of helminths and oocysts of protozoan) are potential sources of environmental contamination, representing a high risk of infection for people. The feces of 46 dogs housed at the Municipal Centre of Zoonoses of Mar del Plata City were analyzed to determine the prevalence of intestinal parasitic forms. The overall prevalence of parasites was 89.13%. Detected parasites were Ancylostoma caninum (71.74%), Toxocara canis (63.04%), Trichuris vulpis (45.65%), Uncinaria stenocephala (41.30%), Capillaria aerophila (17.39%), Echinococcus granulosus (8.69%), Giardia spp. (10.87%) and Isospora spp. (2.17%). The geographical characteristics and the wet weather of the region under consideration, together with the cultural habits and the socio-economic situation of the population may favor transmission. The prevalences of stray and domesticated infected dogs were 88% and 95.24%, respectively. Because stray dogs are often free-roaming, environmental contamination with parasite forms had likely already occurred. The prevalences of A. caninum and T. vulpis were significantly higher in < 6 years-old dogs rather than in older animals. Parasite-specific immunity is usually acquired during development, probably as a consequence of single or repeated exposures. Multiple infections were more frequent (80%) than infections with a single parasite (20%) and the most common parasite association (21.87%) was among A. caninum, T. vulpis, T. canis and U. stenocephala. The high prevalence of poly-parasitized animals together with the zoonotic potential of the parasites found in the samples, indicate that dog feces could be the source of several parasite infections for human as well as canine populations of the region under study. The parasite zoonoses transmitted by dogs are still a sanitary problem in the District of General Pueyrredón.