Multiple potentially zoonotic parasites identified in dog faeces collected in footpaths in the Northwest of Portugal

• Autor(a) principal: Amaral, Sandra Carla Ferrão
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11960/3440
• topic: Ancylostomatidae; Toxocara spp.; Trichuris spp

Animals are a source of several pathogens and environmental contamination with infectious agents is a public health problem worldwide. Reports show that 20.6% to 58.8% of owned dogs are infected with at least one species of intestinal parasite. The aim of this study is to assess the environmental contamination caused by intestinal parasites from dog faeces collected from the ground in footpaths in Alto-Minho region – Portugal. A total of 354 environmental faecal samples, presumably from dogs, were collected directly from the ground in footpaths, between May and November 2021, in 9 municipalities in Alto-Minho region – Portugal. For coprology, the Mini-Flotac® technique was used. Six different parasitic forms were identified in 22.3% (78/354) of the samples: Ancylostomatidae (13.3%, 47/354), Toxocara spp. (6.8%, 24/354), Trichuris spp. (5.4%, 19/354), Cystoisospora spp. (1.1%, 4/354), Taeniidae (1.1%, 4/354), Capillaria spp. (0.9%, 3/354). Most of the samples presented only one type of parasite (18.4%, 65/354). Besides being the most prevalent parasite, Ancylostomatidae presented the maximum number of eggs per gram (EPG) in a single sample (Max EPG: 1865). Taeniidae had the highest mean number of EPG per sample (Mean EPG ± SD: 125 ± 128). Melgaço was the municipality with the highest prevalence (63.6%, 7/11). The results show that a high percentage of samples contained parasitic forms, almost all potentially zoonotic, which embodies a threat to animal and public health. As hiking stands out as a growing activity in Portugal, public awareness for the need to collect faeces in public spaces and deworming of animals must be promoted. Up-to-date epidemiological information, particularly at regional and local level, is crucial to ensure the adequacy and effectiveness of control measures as well as to increase public awareness.