Prevalence and predisposing factors of cestode parasites in dogs in communities neighboring volcanoes National park, Rwanda

A dissertation submitted to the Directorate of Research & Graduate Training in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of a Masters of Science in Wildlife Health and Management of Makerere University

The larval stages (metacestodes) of some cestode parasites of dogs and other carnivores, can result in severe disease for intermediate hosts including humans, domestic as well as wildlife animals. A study was done to determine the occurrence and prevalence of gastrointestinal cestode parasites of domestic and free-roaming dogs in the vicinity of Volcanoes National Park in four districts of Musanze, Burera and Nyabihu in Northern Province and Rubavu district in Western province of Rwanda. A cross-sectional study design was adopted. A total of 290 faecal samples were opportunistically collected from the ground within the area accessible or from inside the cages/live traps and from the dog defaecation places pinpointed by the owners or directly after defaecation. Fresh dog faeces were transported in cool boxes with frozen ice packs, and then kept in a fridge for 24-48 hours before they were examined under a microscope at the Gorilla Doctors laboratory, Musanze, Rwanda. Faecal egg examination was performed by the centrifugal sucrose flotation technique using 1.0 g of faeces. Positive taenid egg samples were processed in duplicates into 96% molecular grade ethanol and formalin, frozen at −80°C and shipped to University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno, Department of Pathological Morphology and Parasitology for molecular identification. Predisposing factors for dog infection were assessed in relation to management and husbandry practices. Of the 290 samples screened, 20 samples, 6.9 % (CI 0.43 – 10.5) were positive for cestodes. Taenia serialis and Mesocestoides species were the most prevalent at 2.1% and 2.8% respectively. It was shown that risk of taenid infection was 4.4 times higher among the respondents who had more than one dog [aOR=4.4, CI: 1.8 – 19.4, P=0.002], those who got the dogs for keeping from their neighbours 2.3 times [aOR=2.3, CI: 1.12 – 11.6, P=0.038], those whose dogs were not restricted 2.7 times [aOR=2.7, xii CI: 1.03 – 10.3, P=0.011].; those whose dogs were interacting with wildlife were 2.8 times [aOR=2.8, CI: 1.1 – 9.5, P=0.042] and those who had unwanted puppies were 2.4 times [aOR=2.4, CI: 1.1 – 5.4, P=0.032] likely to have the infection. It was concluded that cestode parasites were prevalent among domestic and free-roaming dogs in the vicinity of VNP and could potentially pose a risk to humans, domestic animals and wildlife populations in VNP. Therefore, it was recommended to improve awareness of dog owners about gastrointestinal cestode infections by developing an educational programme which should include information on regular deworming, control of dog population, restraining of movement of dog; buying dogs from licensed pet owners’ shops and practice hygienic disposal of dog faeces.

Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project/Gorilla Doctors