<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The present study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of gastrointestinal and cardio-respiratory parasites in dogs in Liguria (northwest Italy) which is a region that has scarcely been studied. A total of 450 dogs (260 males and 190 females) were enrolled in the study from 2009 and 2013. All dogs lived in a rural or semi-rural environment in the provinces of Imperia (n = 352) or Savona (n = 98), Liguria. Coprological examinations showed that 197 dogs (43.8 %, CI 38.7-48.9 %) were infected by parasites. Specifically, 3.3 % of the dogs presented only cardio-respiratory species, 32.4 % only intestinal species, and 8.0 % presented a mixed infection.The most frequent intestinal parasites were <italic>Toxocara canis</italic> (20 %), <italic>Trichuris vulpis</italic> (17.8 %), Ancylostomatidae (12 %), Coccidia (2.7 %), <italic>Aonchotheca putorii</italic> (1.8 %) and <italic>Toxascaris leonina</italic> (1.8 %). The cardio-respiratory species found were <italic>Eucoleus aerophilus</italic> (9.6 %), <italic>Eucoleus boehmi</italic> (1.6 %), <italic>Angiostrongylus vasorum</italic> (0.7 %), and <italic>Crenosoma vulpis</italic> (0.2 %). A total of 116 dogs (25.8 %) were parasitized by a single species, multiple infections were observed in 81 dogs (18.0 %) up to a six-order infection.This preliminary study highlighted that the prevalence of intestinal parasites in investigated area is high. Cardio respiratory parasites were detected in an area that has not been investigated before. The creation of a more extensive sampling programme of the area, on a provincial basis in order to build a more detailed map of prevalences for different species of dog parasites throughout Liguria, a more extensive sampling programme of the area needs to be created - ideally for each province.</abstract>

The present study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of gastrointestinal and cardio-respiratory parasites in dogs in Liguria (northwest Italy) which is a region that has scarcely been studied. A total of 450 dogs (260 males and 190 females) were enrolled in the study from 2009 and 2013. All dogs lived in a rural or semi-rural environment in the provinces of Imperia (n = 352) or Savona (n = 98), Liguria. Coprological examinations showed that 197 dogs (43.8 %, CI 38.7-48.9 %) were infected by parasites. Specifically, 3.3 % of the dogs presented only cardio-respiratory species, 32.4 % only intestinal species, and 8.0 % presented a mixed infection.The most frequent intestinal parasites were Toxocara canis (20 %), Trichuris vulpis (17.8 %), Ancylostomatidae (12 %), Coccidia (2.7 %), Aonchotheca putorii (1.8 %) and Toxascaris leonina (1.8 %). The cardio-respiratory species found were Eucoleus aerophilus (9.6 %), Eucoleus boehmi (1.6 %), Angiostrongylus vasorum (0.7 %), and Crenosoma vulpis (0.2 %). A total of 116 dogs (25.8 %) were parasitized by a single species, multiple infections were observed in 81 dogs (18.0 %) up to a six-order infection.This preliminary study highlighted that the prevalence of intestinal parasites in investigated area is high. Cardio respiratory parasites were detected in an area that has not been investigated before. The creation of a more extensive sampling programme of the area, on a provincial basis in order to build a more detailed map of prevalences for different species of dog parasites throughout Liguria, a more extensive sampling programme of the area needs to be created - ideally for each province.

Cardiorespiratory and gastrointestinal parasites of dogs in north-west Italy

Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, Viale delle Piagge 2, 56124 Pisa, Italy

Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Piazza dei Cavalieri 7, 56126 Pisa

Helminthologia

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Cardiorespiratory and gastrointestinal parasites of dogs in north-west Italy"}

The present study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of gastrointestinal and cardio-respiratory parasites in dogs in Liguria (northwest Italy) which is a...

Tests results on 450 dogs	Gender			Lifestyle			Age
	F(n=190)	M(n=260)	P values	hunting(n=344)	non hunting(n=106)	P values	≤1 year(n=57)	1 – 7 years(n=269)	≥7 years(n=124)	P values
	F(n=190)	M(n=260)	P values	hunting(n=344)	non hunting(n=106)	P values	≤1 year(n=57)	1 – 7 years(n=269)	≥7 years(n=124)	P values	Cardio-respiratory parasites
Eucoleus aerophilus	25	18	0.0263	43	0	0.0001	12	23	8	0.005
Eucoleus boehmi	1	6	ns	2	5	0.0093	2	2	3	ns
Angiostrongylus vasorum	1	2	ns	2	1	-	0	1	2	ns
Crenosoma vulpis	1	0	ns	1	0	-	0	1	0	ns
Intestinal parasites
Toxocara canis	36	54	ns	80	10	0.0019	13	53	24	ns
Trichuris vulpis	32	48	ns	51	29	0.0032	13	53	14	ns
Ancylostomatidae	26	28	ns	51	3	0.0009	12	31	11	ns
Coccidia	4	8	ns	9	3	ns	3	6	3	ns
Toxascaris leonina	3	5	ns	8	0	ns	4	4	0	0.009
Aonchotheca putorii	4	4	ns	8	0	ns	0	5	3	ns
Hymenolepis diminuta	4	1	-	3	2	-	1	1	3	-
Dipylidium caninum	1	0	-	1	0	-	0	1	0	-
Physaloptera spp.	0	1	-	1	0	-	0	1	0	-

Flotation results of 450 dogs	N tot. pos.	%	CI
Cardio – respiratory parasites
Eucoleus aerophilus	43	9.6	6.8 – 12.3
Eucoleus boehmi	7	1.6	0.4 – 2.7
Angiostrongylus vasorum	3	0.7	0 – 1.4
Crenosoma vulpis	1	0.2	0 – 0.7
Intestinal parasites
Toxocara canis	90	20.0	16.3 – 23.7
Trichuris vulpis	80	17.8	14.2 – 21.3
Ancylostomatidae	54	12.0	9.0 – 15.0
Coccidia	12	2.7	1.2 – 4.2
Toxascaris leonina	8	1.8	0.6 – 3.0
Aonchotheca putorii	8	1.8	0.6 – 3.0
Hymenolepis diminuta	5	1.1	0.1 – 2.1
Dipylidium caninum	1	0.2	0 – 0.7
Physaloptera spp.	1	0.2	0 – 0.7

Cardiorespiratory and gastrointestinal parasites of dogs in north-west Italy

Article Category: Research Article

Publié en ligne: 10 août 2016

Pages: 318 - 325

Reçu: 24 mai 2016

Accepté: 13 juil. 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/helmin-2016-0032

Mots clés
dogs, helminths, epidemiology, Liguria, Italy

© 2016 Institute of Parasitology, SAS, Košice

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Statistical results of the comparisons among gender, lifestyle and age groups of 450 dogs with P values of Pearson’s or Fisher’s tests (ns: not significant, -means that the test was not performed due to very low number of positive cases)

Results of copromicroscopic examination by flotation in centrifuge of the faecal samples of 450 dogs (%: prevalence value; CI: Confidence Interval)

Cardiorespiratory and gastrointestinal parasites of dogs in north-west Italy

Article Category: Research Article

Publié en ligne: 10 août 2016

Pages: 318 - 325

Reçu: 24 mai 2016

Accepté: 13 juil. 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/helmin-2016-0032

Mots clésdogs, helminths, epidemiology, Liguria, Italy

© 2016 Institute of Parasitology, SAS, Košice

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Statistical results of the comparisons among gender, lifestyle and age groups of 450 dogs with P values of Pearson’s or Fisher’s tests (ns: not significant, -means that the test was not performed due to very low number of positive cases)

Results of copromicroscopic examination by flotation in centrifuge of the faecal samples of 450 dogs (%: prevalence value; CI: Confidence Interval)

Mots clés
dogs, helminths, epidemiology, Liguria, Italy