Prevalence of important zoonotic parasites in dog populations from the Slovak Republic

Dogs serve as the vectors of serious parasitic diseases with a zoonotic character. In a one-year-study, we collected and examined 752 faeces of dogs. In these faecal samples, 11 different species of intestinal endoparasites were detected, as follows: Toxocara spp. eggs (21.9 %), eggs from the family Ancylostomatidae (18.4 %), coccidia oocysts (10.4 %), eggs of Trichuris spp. (10.0 %), Toxascaris leonina (7.3 %), Capillaria spp. (5.9 %), Taenia type eggs (3.2 %) and Giardia spp. cysts (1.6 %). Echinococcus multilocularis was detected in one sample. Toxocara spp. eggs were dominant in all dog categories, but in hunting dogs they occurred at the highest rate (45.1 %). Faecal samples of dogs from rural ecosystems showed 66.0 % prevalence of intestinal helminths. Presence of Toxocara spp. eggs was found in 25.0 % of sand samples.