Prevalence of Gastrointestinal Helminthes among Dogs in Bahir Dar Town, Ethiopia

Abstract

A cross sectional study was conducted in Bahir Dar town, from October 2011 to March 2012 to determine the prevalence of gastrointestinal helminthes of dogs and identify host related risk factors such as sex, age, breed and type of feed with the occurrence of gastrointestinal helminthes. Out of 384 dogs sampled and subjected to faecal examination using floatation and sedimentation methods, 302 (78.1%) of the dogs were proved to be infected. A breakdown of the number of parasitized dogs showed that 172 (44.8%) were positive for Ancylostoma caninum, 126 (32.8%) for Toxocara canis, 102 (26.6%) for taeniidae egg, 86 (22.4%) for Dipylidium caninum, 83 (21.6%) for Strongyloides stercoralis, 33 (8.6%) for Trichuris vulpis and 23 (6%) positive for coccida oocysts. Out of the total of 207 male and 177 female dogs examined for gastrointestinal helminthes, 164 males (79.2%) and 136 females (76.8%) were known to be positive for one or more gastrointestinal helminthes. Statistical analysis of the data showed that there was no significant difference (p>0.05) in overall prevalence of helminthes infection between sexes. There was a statistically significant difference (P<0.05) in the overall prevalence between adult (73.8%) and young (85.4%) dogs. The species specific prevalence similarly showed a significant variation between the two age groups, being high in young (85.4%) than adult (73.8%) dogs. The overall prevalence of helminthes in exotic-breed were higher (81.3%) than local-breed dogs (76.6%). Statistical analysis showed no significant difference (P>0.05) in the overall prevalence between breed of dogs. The prevalence of helminthes infection was high in dogs that were feed raw (93.7%) followed by dogs that feed mixed (90.7%) and cooked (37.5%). Statistical analysis showed significant difference (P<0.05) in the prevalence of gastrointestinal helminthes among feed types. The high prevalence of gastrointestinal helminthes of dogs in Bahir Dar town may be due to lack of access to Veterinary services and poor awareness of the owners. This suggests the need to implement awareness creation among the dog owners on the prevalence, route of transmission and preventive measures of helminthes of dogs in Bahir Dar in order to decrease the risk of the diseases in dogs and human population.