Prevalence of Soil Transmitted Helminths infection in domesticated pigs and dogs of Morogoro region, Tanzania

Abstract

Soil-transmitted helminths (STH) infections are caused by a group of nematode worms that require development in the soil to become infective. These infections cause ill health in animals; some are responsible for zoonotic infection. Zoonotic STH of dogs and pigs include; Ancylostoma spp, Toxocara canis, and Ascaris suum. This study was carried out due to limited information on STH infections in domesticated pigs and dogs in Tanzania. The study aimed to determine the prevalence of STH in domestic pigs and dogs in Morogoro Municipality and Mvomero District, Tanzania. This was a cross-sectional study which involved a total of 281 dogs and 237 pigs from two districts in the two study areas. The study animals were randomly selected and faecal samples collected and examined for STH using a simple test tube flotation technique. The data collected was entered in Excel and analysis done using Stata version 14. Prevalence of the STH was computed for both animal species and chi-square used to obtain p-values as the test for statistical significance. The prevalence of STH in dogs was 50.53% with Ancylostoma species being the most prevalent (47.33%), followed by Toxocara (12.46%), Trichuris (2.49%) and Strongyloides species (1.07%). The STH prevalence in pigs was 85.23% and the isolated species were Oesophagostomum (81.01%), Trichuris (12.24) and Ascaris species (5.49%). Males and pigs aged ≥1 year were more infected with STH species with a p-value of 0.025 and 0.016, respectively. Dewormed dogs were observed to be less likely to be infect with STH species (p- value = 0.002). Results of this study show that STH species were prevalent gastrointestinal parasites in dogs and pigs in the study area. Mixed infection was common in both animal species. Measures for control of STH infections in dogs and pigs should be practiced to improve animal health.