Veterinary parasitology and climate change

Sustainable intensification – reaching towards climate resilience livestock production system

An ability to prepare, recover and adapt to frequent climatic variation is called “climate resilience.” Climate change now places additional pressure on the cattle industry, particularly in developing nations, which threatens the livelihood of small farmers. In 2013 “Food and Agriculture Organization” reported that the livestock sector accounts for nearly 1/3rd of agricultural gross production value globally. There are higher possibilities of the effective implications of sustainable intensification in the livestock production systems to determine production pathways that are more sustainable and productive with a minimum negative impact on the environment. The paper discusses the systematic review mingle with qualitative text analysis to explore the interrelation between sustainable intensification and resilient climate practices, specifically towards the livestock production system. The data for systematic review was taken from Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed databases from 1995 till 2020, with total screened 94 articles in the final selection. The study's results revealed that all approaches involving environment-friendly practices with higher production efficiency, resource use efficiency and reachable to every farmer were considered sustainable intensification. The relevance of this sustainability analysis to climate resilience is illustrated by considering different types of livestock systems with concerned practices. So, the inclusion of appropriate technology in an appropriate system will open the door for sustainable intensification in the face of a climate-resilient livestock production system and finally lead the farming community towards sustainable development.

Survey of European pet owners quantifying endoparasitic infection risk and implications for deworming recommendations

Background

Zoonotic endoparasites pose risks to pets and people. The European Scientific Counsel Companion Animal Parasites (ESCCAP) created risk groupings for dogs (A-D) and for cats (A-B), with the highest risk pets (Group D dogs and Group B cats) receiving the most frequent testing and/or deworming recommendations. Little information exists on current deworming behaviours across Europe, alignment to accepted guidelines and the percentage of dogs and cats falling into ESCCAP groups. The study objectives were to evaluate the reported infection-risk behaviours of dogs and cats and assesses whether deworming frequency reported by pet owners complied with recommended deworming frequencies.

Methods

A total of 5001 pet owners from five different countries (France, Germany, Spain, Sweden and the UK) were surveyed regarding endoparasite infection risk and the frequency of deworming of dogs and cats. For the purposes of this study, ESCCAP risk groups for cats (A-B) were converted into four risk groups (A-D) using the additional risk factors outlined in the ESCCAP guidelines. This allowed direct comparison between cats and dogs as well as grouped higher risk cats into the appropriate deworming frequency.

Results

The three most common risk factors identified for dogs were contact with: other dogs, snails or prey; children or the elderly; going off lead outside their own garden. 85–98% of all dogs had risks putting them into Group D, the highest risk group. The three most common risk factors identified for cats were: hunting; catching prey; contact with children or the elderly. Using these revised groups, 33–68% of cats were in Group D. Despite the majority of dogs and cats falling into a risk category where ESCCAP recommends monthly deworming, dogs and cats averaged 2.3 and 2.2 dewormings per year, respectively. This frequency was less than the four times a year dosing frequency demonstrated to be required to reduce zoonotic Toxocara spp. ova shedding.

Conclusions

Overall, 93% of dogs and 54% of cats fell into Group D, the highest risk group. Deworming frequencies were considerably less than recommended by ESCCAP or required to both reduce zoonotic risk and improve pet health. Improved treatment compliance is needed.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s13071-018-3149-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The prevalence and abundance of helminth parasites in stray dogs from the city of Queretaro in central Mexico

The prevalence of helminth species in stray dogs, from the capital city of the state of Queretaro, was evaluated. A total of 378 dogs were captured and examined for the presence of helminths from January to December 2008. The results showed that 275 (72.8%) of examined dogs were infected with one or more helminth species. Single infections were observed in 139 (50.5%) of infected dogs and 136 (49.5%) harboured mixed infections. Out of the 378 dogs examined, 208 (55.2%) presented nematodes and 182 (48.1%) cestodes. The prevalences (confidence interval) and mean intensities of infection ( ± SD) of nematodes and cestodes encountered were: Ancylostoma caninum 42.9% (37.9-47.8) and 22.1 ( ± 34.3); Toxocara canis 15.1% (11.8-19.0) and 8.3 ( ± 15.0); Spirocerca lupi 4.5% (2.7-7.1) and 3.9 ( ± 4.8); Toxascaris leonina 2.3% (1.1-4.5) and 4.8 ( ± 3.5); Physaloptera praeputialis 1.9% (0.8-3.8) and 9.7 ( ± 14.9); Dirofilaria immitis 1.3% (0.4-3.1) and 5.6 ( ± 2.1); Oslerus osleri 0.3% (0.0-1.6) and 5 ( ± 0.0); Dipylidium caninum 44.9% (40.0-50.0) and 18.1 ( ± 27.7); Taenia spp. 6.9% (4.7-9.9) and 6.9 ( ± 7.1). There were no significant differences in prevalences observed either between female (68.5%) and male (76.8%) or between young (70.6%) and adult (74.2%) animals. No differences were observed in the ANOVA test for the mean intensity of infection of any of the parasites (P>0.05).