Epidemiological Study of Zoonotic Gastrointestinal Parasites in Police and House Dogs in Baghdad governorate/ Iraq

Abstract

Canine intestinal protozoan parasites are zoonotic diseases and have importance to the public health. This study intended to determine the intestinal parasites in the police dogs as well as house dogs in Baghdad governorate / Iraq. Totally, 134 fecal samples were collected from 112 and 22 police and house dogs respectively. The fecal samples were examined by direct and different fecal diagnostic techniques. The total prevalence of parasitic infestation was 37 (27.61%) out of 134 fecal samples. The parasitic infestation was more in the house dogs 8/22 (36.36%) than in the police dogs 29/112 (25.89%). The most frequently detected helminthes and protozoal parasites, were the Toxocara canis 11 (8.20%), Isospora spp. 19 (14.17%), Cryptosporidium spp. 5 (3.73%) and Sarcocystis spp. 3 (2.23%). The enteric parasites revealed significance prevalence value at (P≤ 0.05). Moreover, it revealed significant difference between female 15/46 (32.60%) and male 22/98 (22.44%) dogs at (p≤ 0.05). In addition, the dogs less than 1 year old, revealed higher infestation percentage 12/19 (63.15%) with significant difference (p≤ 0.01). In conclusion, this study revealed that the police and house dogs considered as a reservoirs for zoonotic intestinal helminthes and protozoan parasites. The authors recommend to consider these parasites as important pathogens to the public health. Therefore, a program should be developed to control the prevalence of intestinal parasites especially between the dog’s trainers and owners.

Keywords

• Gastrointestinal parasites
• House dogs
• Police dogs
• Iraq.