Volume 14, Number 1—January 2008
THEME ISSUE
International Polar Year
Dispatch
Dogs as Sources and Sentinels of Parasites in Humans and Wildlife, Northern Canada
Amanda L. Salb*†, Herman W. Barkema†, Brett T. Elkin†‡, R.C. Andrew Thompson§, Douglas P. Whiteside*†, Sandra R. Black*†, J.P. Dubey¶, and Susan J. Kutz†
Table 1
Prevalence and median intensity (range) of parasite eggs or oocysts in feces or positive titers for Toxoplasma and Neospora in dogs in 2 communities in northern Canada
| Characteristic | Fort Chipewyan |
Fort Resolution |
|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Puppies |
Adults |
Puppies |
Adults |
||||||||
| M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | ||||
| No. dogs | 6 | 1 | 32 | 20 | 5 | 7 | 37 | 21 | |||
| Prevalence (%), median Intensity (range)* | |||||||||||
| Alaria spp.† | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14, 2 (1–134) | 4, 7 | |||
| Diphyllobothrium spp.† | 17, 50 | 0 | 3, 2 | 0 | 20, 2 | 14, 1 | 11, 6 (1–603) | 4, 6,429 | |||
| Taeniid spp.†‡ | 0 | 0 | 6, 4 (2–5) | 5, 55 | 0 | 0 | 11, 7 (1–770) | 0 | |||
| Cytoisospora spp. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5, 43 | 20, 30 | 0 | 0 | 4, 4 | |||
| Sarcocystis spp. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15, 30 (3–53) | 40, 2 (1–2) | 14, 21 | 11, 13 (3–27) | 13, 3 (1–255) | |||
| Toxascaris spp.† | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5, 221 | 60, 251 (149–530) | 29, 195 (93–297) | 0 | 17, 138 (35–248) | |||
| Toxocara spp.† | 33, 10,000 (610–20,000) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20, 6 | 14, 2 | 3, 11 | 9, 161 (1–321) | |||
| Uncinaria spp.† |
0 |
0 |
47, 31
(1–333) |
5, 63 |
20, 14 |
0 |
35, 40
(9– 251) |
26, 27
(17–367) |
|||
| No. dogs | 4 | 1 | 30 | 13 | 3 | 7 | 23 | 15 | |||
| Giardia spp.† |
0 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
33 |
0 |
0 |
20 |
|||
| No. dogs | 6 | 1 | 29 | 16 | 3 | 5 | 30 | 18 | |||
| Toxoplasma gondii †§ | 50 | 100 | 41 | 50 | 100 | 80 | 60 | 56 | |||
| Neospora caninum¶ | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | |||
*Range not reported if only 1 dog was positive. Intensity is the number of eggs or oocytes per gram of wet feces.
†Zoonotic parasites.
‡Echinococcus multilocularis, E. granulosus, or Taenia spp.
§23 dogs had titers of 25, 22 had titers of 50, 1 had a titer of 100, 1 had a titer of 200, and 1 had a titer of 400.
¶All 4 dogs had titers of 25.
