Prevalence of endoparasite infection on stray dogs in Chungbuk province = Prevalence of endoparasite infection on stray dogs in Chungbuk province

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

As the companion animal industry has shown rapid development in Korea, the number of stray animals has increased. This phenomenon has become a social issue in terms of animal welfare, as well as public health-related problems. However, the authoriries have difficulty in coping with the problems, because the number of research studies on stray animals is insufficient. In this study, 49 feces of stray dogs were examined in three animal shelters located in Chung-buk province, in order to establish baseline data for parasite distributions on stray dogs. The zinc-sulfate flotation and formalin-ether sedimentation methods were used for parasite isolation. The examined dogs consisted of 26 males and 23 females, and they were categorized as three groups, including puppies (<1y), juveniles (1~3y), and adults (>3y). On microscopic examination, 28 feces were considered as infected (57.14%). The isolated parasite eggs were composed of 11 different species. The most frequent species was Ancylostoma caninum (28.57%), followed by lsospora canis (24.49%), Trichuris vulpis (10.20%), Toxocara leonina (6.12%), etc. The older dogs had a higher prevalence rate however, no significant relevance were observed between sex and prevalence. All cases of Toxocara leonina infection (n=3) belonged to the male group, and all cases of Trichuris vulpis infection (n=5) belonged to the juvenile group. Infection of A. caninum and 1. canis were identified as the most frequent case of co-infection. A. caninum and 1.canis were the parasites showing the greatest infestation in Chungbuk. In addition, as zoonotic parasites were identified, a proper surveillance system should be required.