THE DISTRIBUTION OF HELMINTHS IN THE GASTROINSTESTINAL TRACTS OF DOGS IN ZARIA AND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WORM BURDEN AND EGG OUTPUTS BY
THE DISTRIBUTION OF HELMINTHS IN THE GASTROINSTESTINAL TRACTS OF DOGS IN ZARIA AND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WORM BURDEN AND EGG OUTPUTS BY
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Date
1998-09
Authors
Komtangi, Marie Claire Neng
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Abstract
An investigation was carried out to determine the
prevalence and distribution of gastrointestinal helminth
parasites of dogs in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. The
relationship between qualitative and quantitative
estimation of infection on one hand, and either of these
methods and actual worm burden in infected dogs on the
other hand were studied. Parasites of zoonotic
importance were noted.
Whole gastrointestinal tracts were collected from
four non-descript abattoirs in Zaria. Three hundred and
sixty one samples were used for prevalence studies and
100 gastrointestinal and faecal samples from same animal
were used for the comparative study.
The gastrointestinal tracts were processed by
washing and sieving until the supernatant became clear,
while the faecal samples were processed using the simple
flotation technique with zinc sulphate sugar solution as
the levitating media. For the faecal egg count, the
Mcmaster egg counting technique was used.
Of the 361 gastrointestinal tracts examined, 99.9%
had at least one or more helminth parasites. The
overall prevalence of infection were 58.1% for
Ancylostoma caninum, 52.6% for Dipylidium caninum,
21.9% for Taenia hydatigenaj, 17.0% for Taenia ovis,
7.5% for Toxocara canisj_ 1.7% for Toxoascaris leonina,
2.5% for Ancylostoma braziliense, 6.5% for Spirocerca
lupi and 2.5% for Rictularia species.4 Two (0.6%) of the
361 samples examined were not infected with any of the
gastrointestinal helminth parasites. A high percent
(65.3%) of the dogs had more than one parasite in the
intestine.
The number of parasites present in the
gastrointestinal tract ranged from 1-310 for Dipylidium,
1-276 for Taenia and 1-213 for hookworms. Not more than
five Rictularia worms were encountered in any of the
infected dogs, and infection with Spirocerca lupi had a
parasite range between 5-17 worms.
With the exception of Rictularia, all other
parasites encountered in this study are of public health
importance.
The parasite length was found to decrease as the
worm burden increase in hookworm and ascarid infections,
with a negative correlation of -0.96 and -0.525
respectively.
As regards the relationship between the presence of
eggs in the faeces and presence of parasites in the
gastrointestinal tract, a highly significant difference
was obtained in hookworms, ascarids, Taenia and
Spirocerca infections; and a higher prevalence was
obtained from the recovery of parasites from the
intestine than from faecal examination.
It was also observed that as the worm burden in the
gastrointestinal tract increases, the faecal egg count
also increases.
It is concluded that infections with
gastrointestinal helminth parasites in dog is endemic in
Zaria and poses a significant public health problem.
Also, the absence of helminth eggs in the faeces of a
dogs, does not necessarily indicate absence of
infection. Quantitative faecal analysis may give an
indication of the degree of worm burden and. most
probably, the degree of damage inflicted on the host.
Furthermore the recovery of parasites during Necropsy is
confirmed to be a better method for prevalence study.
Description
A Thesis Submitted to the Postgraduate School,
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree
MASTER OF SCIENCE
(Parasitology and Entomology)
Department of Veterinary Parasitology and Entomology
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
Keywords
HELMINTHS,, GASTROINSTESTINAL,, DOGS,, ZARIA,, WORM,, BURDEN,, EGG,