Prevalence of Blood Parasites of Dog (Pet and Stray) in Bhaktapur Municipality

Abstract

Dogs are the companion’s animals that are kept primarily for social benefits and utilitarian purposes. They can be affected by various kinds of blood parasites that are zoonotic to human and are worldwide in distribution. A cross sectional study was conducted from September 2022 to February 2023 to investigate the prevalence of blood parasites of dogs (pet and stray) in Bhaktapur municipality. Altogether, 150 blood samples, 50 from pet and 100 from stray dogs were collected with the help of a trained veterinary assistant from saphenous or cephalic vein of dogs. Subsequently, the blood samples were examined through microscopic examination for the detection of blood parasites. The overall prevalence of blood parasites was recorded as 27.33% in dogs. On individual analysis, twenty percent of pet samples and thirty one percent of stray dog's samples were found to be infested with various types of blood parasites. Altogether, four species of parasites with higher prevalence of Anaplasma spp. (18.67%), followed by Babesia sp. (6.67%), Ehrlichia sp. (2.67%) and Hepatozoon sp. (1.33%) were observed in the samples. The younger dogs recorded higher infestation (31.25%) followed by older (>12 months) (27.2%) and puppy (22.22%). Female dogs showed higher prevalence (27.65%) as compared to male (27.18%). Higher infestations of parasites were recorded from local breed (21.33%), followed by Japanese breed (1.33%). In the study, the burden of parasites was slightly higher in dogs infested by ticks (52.30%) than tick free dogs. From tick infestation dogs, Anaplasma spp., Babesia sp. and Hepatozoon sp. of blood parasites were recorded. Single infection of blood parasites was found higher (25.33%) than double infection (2%). There were no significant association between factor such as age, sex, breed and tick infestation with difference in the detection of blood parasites (P>0.05). However, there was a significant relationship found in species of blood parasites and concurrency of blood parasites (P< 0.001). Some of these blood parasites such as Babesia and Ehrlichia are zoonotic to human and cause significant production loss in the animals. We suggest effective treatment, control and prevention program to break transmission chain of blood parasites among the companion animals.