A Survey of Helminths of Dogs in Rural and Urban Areas of Uzbekistan and the Zoonotic Risk to Human Population
Alisher Safarov,
Andrei D. Mihalca,
Gab-Man Park,
Firuza Akramova,
Angela M. Ionică,
Otayorjon Abdinabiev,
Georgiana Deak,
Djalaliddin Azimov
Affiliations
Alisher Safarov
State Committee of Veterinary and Livestock Development of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Tashkent 100123, Uzbekistan
Andrei D. Mihalca
Department of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Gab-Man Park
Department of Environmental Medical Biology, Catholic Kwandong University College of Medicine, Gangneung 25601, Korea
Firuza Akramova
Institute of Zoology of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Tashkent 100053, Uzbekistan
Angela M. Ionică
Clinical Hospital of Infectious Diseases of Cluj-Napoca, 400348 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Otayorjon Abdinabiev
Samarkand Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Samarkand 140103, Uzbekistan
Georgiana Deak
Department of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Djalaliddin Azimov
Institute of Zoology of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Tashkent 100053, Uzbekistan
Dogs are very popular pets that can be infected with a wide diversity of endo- and ectoparasites, some of which have zoonotic potential. The aim of the present study was to determine the diversity and prevalence of helminths in rural and urban dogs in Tashkent, Samarkand and Karakalpakstan regions of Uzbekistan. A total of 399 dogs from rural and urban areas were examined by necropsy between November 2016 and March 2022. All helminth species were morphologically identified. A total of 31 species belonging to the classes Trematoda (3), Cestoda (9), Nematoda (18) and Acanthocephala (1) were identified in 378 dogs (94.7%). Twenty-one species are indicated for the helminth fauna of urban dogs and 31 species for rural dog populations. From the 31 species of helminths identified 18 species are zoonotic and four of them (Echinicoccus granulosus, Dipylidium cani-num, Toxocara canis, Dirofilaria repens) have a significant epidemiological importance. The study showed that the prevalence and diversity of helminths in dogs in rural areas of Uzbekistan is higher than in urban dogs.
