Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Umbria e delle Marche "Togo Rosati", Perugia, Italy.
Department of Veterinary Science, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
PLoS One. 2023 Oct 20;18(10):e0293330. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0293330. eCollection 2023.
Humans and dogs commonly share the same domestic environment. Europe, and Italy specifically, have a substantial and growing dog population. Potentially zoonotic parasites may be harbored even by dogs receiving regular veterinary care. Thus, transmission of zoonotic or potentially zoonotic parasites to owners and their families should not be underestimated. Frequently, endoparasite infections occur as a subclinical infection and clinicopathological alterations have been documented including anemia, hypoalbuminemia, and eosinophilia. The aim of this large retrospective secondary data study was to analyze coprological endoparasite results and putative risk factors obtained from owned dogs, through a 9-year-period (2011-2019). Possible associations between diagnosed endoparasites and sex, age, seasonality, and year of examination were evaluated. Additionally, parasitological diagnoses were combined to complete blood count parameters and biochemical profiles, when available, to check for any possible hematological alteration from parasitism. A total of 1,972 dogs were evaluated for endoparasites using common fecal diagnostic tests over a 9-year period. The overall proportion of endoparasite-positive animals was 10%. The most common endoparasites detected were Cystoisospora spp. (3%), Toxocara canis (2.8%), Giardia duodenalis (1.6%), and Trichuris vulpis (1.2%). Of these parasites detected, Toxocara poses the greatest zoonotic risk, while Giardia species are considered to have a low potential to be zoonotic. There was no significant diagnostic trend across the years through the study period. Dogs were more frequently diagnosed endoparasite-positive when young and during cold seasons compared to the baselines of mature dogs and warm seasons. The clinicopathological profiles indicated that parasitized dogs had mild hematological alterations. The frequency of detected potentially zoonotic endoparasites in this study highlights that the risk should not be underestimated. Parasitic infection was found to be mostly dependent on age and season. Having this information may help clinicians to develop anthelmintic protocols to reduce the risk of transmission.
人和狗通常在相同的家庭环境中生活。欧洲，特别是意大利，拥有大量且不断增长的犬只群体。即使是经常接受兽医护理的狗，也可能携带潜在的人畜共患寄生虫。因此，不应低估人畜共患或潜在人畜共患寄生虫向主人及其家人的传播。通常，内寄生虫感染呈亚临床感染，已记录到临床病理变化，包括贫血、低白蛋白血症和嗜酸性粒细胞增多症。本大规模回顾性二次数据研究的目的是分析 9 年间（2011-2019 年）从宠物犬中获得的粪便内寄生虫检测结果和潜在风险因素。评估了诊断出的内寄生虫与性别、年龄、季节性和检查年份之间的可能关联。此外，当寄生虫检查结果与全血细胞计数参数和生化谱相结合时（如果可用），可以检查寄生虫感染是否可能导致任何血液学变化。在 9 年期间，使用常见粪便诊断检测共评估了 1972 只狗的内寄生虫情况。内寄生虫阳性动物的总体比例为 10%。检测到的最常见内寄生虫是等孢球虫（3%）、犬弓首蛔虫（2.8%）、十二指肠贾第虫（1.6%）和犬复孔绦虫（1.2%）。在这些检测到的寄生虫中，犬弓首蛔虫具有最大的人畜共患病风险，而贾第虫属被认为具有较低的人畜共患潜力。在整个研究期间，没有发现各年的诊断趋势。与成熟犬和温暖季节的基线相比，幼犬和寒冷季节的犬更常被诊断为内寄生虫阳性。临床病理概况表明，寄生虫感染的狗有轻微的血液学变化。本研究中检测到的潜在人畜共患内寄生虫的频率表明，不应低估这种风险。寄生虫感染主要取决于年龄和季节。了解这些信息可能有助于临床医生制定驱虫方案，以降低传播风险。
