PREVALENCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF FECAL PARASITES AND ZOONOTIC IMPORTANCE IN DOGS

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and distribution of the faecal parasites and zoonotic importance in dogs Idunowina Community, Benin City, Edo state. A number of households were randomly selected, and all dogs within those households were included in the study. The samples were collected with clean and well labeled wide-mouthed bottles and was transferred to the laboratory for analysis. In this study, a total of 15 dogs were examined and 12 were infected giving an overall prevalence of 80.0%. Ova (eggs) and larva of seven parasites species were recovered from the infected dogs; six of these were identified while one could not be identified. Among the parasites were Cestoda; Diphylidium caninum, Nematoda; Ancyclostoma tubafume, A. caninum, Baylisascaris procynosis, Toxocara canis and Uncinaria stenocephalala and unidentified parasites. A total of 9 males and 6 females were examined for fecal parasites; 8 (88.89%) males and 4 (66.67%) females were infected. The ages of the dogs examined for fecal helminths were in range of, 1-12, 13-24 and 25-36 months. All dogs within the all the age group were infected while those within 19-36 months showed a higher prevalence of 100%. Prevalence of zoonotic parasites of dogs in Idunowina is high. So, there is an urgent need to create awareness among dog owners in the area to reduce this high infection rate and necessarily, reduce the danger of transmission of these infections to human as a result of ignorance on the part of the dog owners.