Prevalence of Toxocara cati in pet cats and it ʼ s zoonotic importance in Tabriz city, Iran

Introduction

Toxocara species are known as the common Ascaridoid nematodes of cats and dogs worldwide. These parasites are causative agents of toxocariasis, a zoonotic parasitic disease in humans with worldwide distribution. In this regard, T. canis and T. cati has been reported as the most widespread species of Toxocara in dogs and cats, respectively (Aghamolaie et al., 2019). Humans are infected by the ingestion of Toxocara eggs from contaminated soil, raw vegetables, or unwashed hands. The larvae appear in the intestine and migrate to muscle and neurological tissues, where they can remain for several years without development, or reproduction (Holland and Smith, 2006). Some peoples can be infected through consuming the larvae present in undercooked meat of infected paratenic hosts like chickens, cattle, sheep, or earthworms. The clinical signs of toxocariasis depend on where in the body infected. Several forms of toxocariasis are previously presented, namely visceral larva migrans, covert toxocariasis, ocular larva migrans, and neurotoxocariasis (Lötsch et al., 2017).

Recent epidemiological studies indicated the widespread prevalence of human infection with Toxocara globally (Choobineh et al., 2019). Of note, Toxocara in cats plays an important role in human health. The prevalence of T. cati in cats has been investigated to vary from 0.8 to 59.3% in various parts of the world (Yamamoto et al., 2009). In Iran, cats live freely in urban and rural areas, shedding Toxocara eggs in the environment, which are transmittable to humans. In this regards, growing evidence demonstrate the contamination of the soil in public places with Toxocara eggs in Iran (Motazedian et al., 2006). It was previously reported that the prevalence of T. cati in cats ranged from 8% to 52.8% in various regions of Iran (Sadjjadi et al., 2001).

Therefore, the present study was conducted on the prevalence of Toxocara cati from Pet cats in Tabriz, based on morphological approaches, and also the prevalence rate of Toxocara cati.

Materials and Methods

Sample collection

From February to November 2014, a total of 50 household cats were randomly selected from different geographic areas (north, south, east, and west) of Tabriz city, and fresh fecal samples were collected by owners or veterinarians that underwent a clinical examination in three different veterinary clinics located in the same areas. At clinical examination, data about individual features and management of animals were recorded by clinicians.

Fecal Examination

Feces were stored at 4°C and examined within 48 hours. A macroscopic examination was first performed. Subsequently, each fecal sample was divided into two groups. In the direct propagation method, a small amount of stool sample was mixed with a drop of physiological serum on a slide. After placing a slide on it, it was examined microscopically. In the formalin-ether method, dissolve some of the feces in 10 ml of 10% formalin and shake 7 ml of the filtered suspension vigorously after adding ether to it and centrifuge at 2000 rpm for 2 minutes and then Logul was added to the lower sediment and examined under a microscope and McMaster technique that the parasite eggs were differentiated according to their morphologic characteristics. The criteria for measuring the severity of the parasite in cat feces was up to three egg in any microscopic field.

Statistical analysis

Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 20.0. To check for statistic difference, chi-square tests were adapted. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered to be significant.

Results

The findings of this study presented that in general, four out of 50 pet cats (8 %) were found infected with T. cati (Table 1). The intensity of infection ranged from one to a maximum of 29 eggs per cat (Table 2 and Figure 1).

Table 1. The infection rate of T. cati in pet cats in Tabriz, Iran.

Table 2. Theintensity of T. cati infection in Pet cats in Tabriz, Iran.

Fig. 1. T. cati egg in fecal smear (×400).