ABSTRACT

Dogs harbour a wide range ofparasites with zoonotic potential, thus causing a health risk to humans. In Nigeria, epidemiological knowledge on these parasites is limited particularly in Bende, Ikwuano and Umuahia South Local Government Areas in Abia, Nigeria. This study was carried out between December, 2016 and October, 2017 to investigate the influence of age and sex on the prevalence of zoonotic gastrointestinal parasites of dogs, associated risk factors and best management practices in Bende, Ikwuano and Umuahia South Local Government Areas of Abia State. A total of four hundred and fourty dogs faecal samples were collected from the study locations and analyzed by formol ether concentration technique and saline wet mount method. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain information on the knowledge, attitude and practices of dog owners regarding zoonotic parasites of dogs. Overall prevalence of 46.8% was recorded. The community related prevalence showed that dogs from Ikwuano had the highest (61.0%), parasitic burden followed by Bende (39.1%) and Umuahia South (37.2%).Six species of dogs were identified, the German shepherd 3 (60.0%) had the highest parasitic infection, followed by Azawakh 117 (58.2%), Basenji 64 (31.8%), the Caucasian and Rottweiler 1 (20.0%) had similar prevalence. The least infection 20 (9.9%) was Greyhound species. A total of five species of gastrointestinal parasites of dogs were recorded in this study.The highest 90 (43.6%) parasitic infection was Ancylostoma caninum, followed by Toxocara canis 62 (30.1%), Dipylidium caninum 43 (20.8%), Trichuris vulpis 9 (4.3%) and the least 2 (0.9%) Isospora canis. There was no significant difference in the overall sex-related prevalence of dogs (P>0.05). The age group of 7-11 months had the highest (49.6%) parasitic infection, followed by the age group of 0-6 months (47.7%) and the adult of more than 12 months (38.6%).Mixedinfection of (0.4%) was recorded in the local species.Responses from the questionnaire showed that most (68.1%) of dogs are male, majority (85.8%) are local dogs and only (26.1%) of dogs are between the age group of 7-11 months, very few (7.5%) of dog owners had kennels in their compounds, some (77.9%) of dogs defecate within their house premises and grazing areas, few (10.6%) of dog owners do disposed their dog faeces after defecation, majority (66.4%) of dog owners are not aware of canine zoonoses, most (54.8%) of dog owners do not take diseases transmitted by dogs seriously. Therefore, adequate measures such as public health education, good environmental and personal hygienic practices and regular deworming of dogs can minimize the transmission of these parasites to humans and other intermediate hosts.