Intestinal Parasites in Dogs and Humans, Environmental Egg Contamination and Risk of Human Infection with Zoonotic Helminth Parasites from Dog in Hosanna Town

Pets are companion animals that play an important role in societies throughout the world including Ethiopia and dogs are the first domesticated species. However, potential hazards are associated with pet ownership and thus, the objectives of the study were to determine the prevalence of gastrointestinal helminths infection in dogs and their owners in Hosanna, with special attention to potential zoonotic parasites and also to assess knowledge, attitude and practice of dog owners on dog parasites and health related management aspect of dogs. Cross sectional and retrospective study designs were employed with systematic random sampling methods to select households owning dogs in Hosanna town. Results based on coproscopy examination revealed that overall prevalence of helminth infection in dogs were 71.6% (n=187) out of 261 dogs sampled and species of parasites identified were: Ancylostoma caninum (49%) followed by Toxocara canis (34%), Toxocara leonine (7.2%), Taenia species (4.2%), Strongyloides stercoralis (2.6%) and Trichuris vulpis (1.9%) with a statistically significant variation (χ 2 : 365, df: 5, p: 0.000) between species. The highest prevalence was recorded in Arada kebele (85.7%) followed by Meli-amba (85.3%). Intestinal helminth parasites in human showed overall prevalence of 17.62% (95% CI: 13.20-22.79) and species of parasites identified were Hookworm species (6.5%) followed by Ascaris (4.6%), H. nana (2.7%), S. stercoralis(1.5%), Taenia species (1.5%) and H. diminatus (0.8%). The highest prevalence was recorded in Bobicho kebele (27.58%) followed by Heto (26.60%). In the analysis of the five year Human hospital and different clinics patient records Ascaris, E. vermicularis, H. nana, Hookworm species, S. stercoralis, Taenia species and Trichuria species were found with an overall abundances of 24.6%, 1.4%, 1.4%, 19.4%, 7.6%, 7% and 6.4% respectively. Out of the seven purposively collected soil samples, upon laboratory analysis helminth eggs were recovered in five of the soil samples and the eggs of the following species of helminth parasites identified in decreasing were: Trichuris species, T. canis, Ancylostoma species, A. lumbricoides, S. stercoralis and Taenia species. The major risk factors for the spread and zoonotic transmissions of parasites were lack of treatment for dog (prevalence: 81.2%, P value: 0.000 and OR (95%CI):16(7.1-35)), poor awareness on transmissible helminth intestinal parasites of dog (prevalence: 76.5% P value: 0.002 and OR(95%CI):2.5(1.36-4.4)) and composting practice of dog faece (prevalence in human: 35.3%, P value: 0.013 and OR(95%CI): 2.83(1.01-8.3)). In general the prevalence and parasitic egg loads were high in dog and all of species are zoonotically important/ recognized. So, deworming of dog and community awareness were suggested as a way forward. Furthermore, research in the area of pet zoonoses, communication and collaboration among human and animal professionals for coordinated surveillance system were forwarded as recommendation.