Prevalence and risk factors associated with Cryptosporidium spp. infection in local breed of dogs in Enugu State, Nigeria

Vet World Vol.12 May-2019 Article-17

Research Article

Veterinary World, 12(5): 729-734

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2019.729-734

Ukamaka U. Eze¹, Ikenna O. Ezeh², Terry A. Nzeakor², Samuel C. Attama¹, Ekene V. Ezenduka³, and Denchris N. Onah²

1. Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria.
2. Department of Veterinary Parasitology and Entomology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria.
3. Department of Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria.

Background and Aim:

Materials and Methods: A total of 203 fresh fecal samples were collected from domestic dogs in six local government areas in Enugu State from February 2015 to August 2015. All the samples were examined using the formol-ether sedimentation method. Fecal smears were then stained by the modified Ziehl-Neelsen technique and examined under direct light microscopy.

Results: A total of 74 (36.5%) dogs were infected with Cryptosporidium spp. oocysts. There was a strong association (p<0.05) between the presence of Cryptosporidium spp. oocysts and management practices. However, there was no statistically significant association (p>0.05) between the presence of Cryptosporidium spp. oocysts and age, sex, and fecal consistency.

Conclusion: The findings of this work suggest that domestic dogs in Enugu State harbor and shed Cryptosporidium spp. oocysts in the environment, especially those managed semi-intensively. Such fecal shedding is particularly so and of greater zoonotic and epidemiological importance in animals that do not show clinical signs and therefore not treated. They, therefore, pose a greater public health risk, especially to immune-compromised humans and animals. Public education on the zoonotic implication of this protozoan infection is of paramount importance in Enugu State, in particular, and Nigeria, in general, considering the closeness of dogs and man. Keywords: Cryptosporidium, dogs, modified Ziehl-Neelsen techniques, Nigeria, prevalence, risk factor.

Keywords: Cryptosporidium, dogs, modified Ziehl-Neelsen techniques, Nigeria, prevalence, risk factor.

How to cite this article: Eze UU, Ezeh IO, Nzeakor TA, Attama SC, Ezenduka EV, Onah DN (2019) Prevalence and risk factors associated with Cryptosporidium spp. infection in local breed of dogs in Enugu State, Nigeria, Veterinary World, 12(5): 729-734.

Received: 03-12-2018 Accepted: 03-04-2019 Published online: 31-05-2019

Corresponding author: Ikenna O. Ezeh E-mail: ikenna.ezeh@unn.edu.ng

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2019.729-734

Copyright: Eze, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.