Study of Intestinal Helminthes of Stray Dogs and Their Public Heath Importance in Hamadan City

Intestinal helminthesof dogs are a serious threat to human health and may cause dangerous diseases such as: hydatidosis and visceral larva migrans,thatwhich cause severe complications in human. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalenceof intestinal helminthes of stray dogs in Hamadan city, Iran..
A total of 103 stray dogswere shot in the inner and around of the city in year 2015. Following necropsy, the intestine's contents of dogs were examined for helminthes macroscopically. Then, the collected worms, after washing with saline,were counted and identified according to being Nematode, Cestodeor Acantcephala. Then, collected Nematodes were put in glass containers containing 70% ethanol-glycerine and Cestodes after processing on slides were put in the 10% formalin. To identify the species of helminthes, the Cestodes were stained using carmine acid and Nematodes were cleared in lacto-phenol.
Result indicated that, 74(71.8%)stray dogs were infected at least by one species of intestinal helminthes. The species of parasites were as follows: Echinococcus granulosus 37.9%, Dipylidium caninum 51.5%, Toxocara canis 19.4%, Taenia hydatigena 24.3%, T. multiceps 2.9%, T. ovis 1.9%, Mesocest oideslineatus 4.9%, and Acantho cephala 5.8%.There was no association between insex, season and region with prevalence of intestinal helminthes (P > 0.05). On the other side, there was a significant deference (P This study indicatesd that,infection rate of helminthes in stray dogs is washigh in Hamadan city. These parasites are important in terms of human health and economic aspects. Therefore, it is more essential that public health authoritiesto develop control strategies for stray dog's population.