Survey of intestinal helminths in urban dogs of Montevideo and Florida, and rural dogs of the department of Florida, with the record of a new genus of nematode parasitizing dogs in our country

Abstract

The parasites of 95 intestinal tracts of 95 dogs, 56 from rural zones of Florida County, 30 from Montevideo city and 9 from Florida city, were surveyed. Caecum and large intestine were absent in 11 tracts. At least one helminth species was found in 71 (74.7 %) intestines. In the whole, 5964 helminthes were collected, including two specimens of the genus Molineus (Nematoda, Trichostrongyloidea), which is recorded for the first time parasitizing dogs in Uruguay. The other helminth species recovered were Dipylidium caninum, Taenia hydatigena, Ancylostoma sp., Toxocara canis y Trichuris vulpis. Nineteen intestines were infected by one helminth species, 27 harboured two species, 19 three, four harboured four species, and two intestines showed fivefold infections. Four helminth species (Ancylostoma sp., T canis, T. vulpis y D. caninum) were present in dogs from all the procedences, with elevated levels of prevalence, intensity and abundance of infection. The remaining two species, T hydatigena and Molineus sp., were found only in rural dogs and with low infections parameterso. The ratio standard deviation / mean intensity was greater than one for the five more abundant species, pointing out to helminth populations with aggregated distributions. Th sex ratio of the three more prevalent nematode species, in agreement with the theoretical predictions, was larger than one. These results are compared with previous surveys made in Uruguay.