Cryptosporidiosis in Dogs in Kampala:

Prevalence, Associated Risk Factors and

Public Health Implication

Authors:Patrick Mawadri, Eddie Ekakoro and

Patrick Vudriko.

CONTENT

Introduction

Methodology

Results and Discussion

Conclusions and recommendations

• Cryptosporidiosis is an important Zoonotic disease occuring in over 170 different hosts species, caused by opportunistic protozoans of the genus Cryptosporidium

Introduction

• It presents a global health problem due to its zoonotic nature and waterborne and food borne transmissions, (Graczyk et al., 1997)

• Cryptosporidiosis is most severe in immuno-compromised individuals where it presents with chronic debilitating diarrhea and death terminally (Dubey and Greene, 2006; Katagiri and Oliveira, 2008).

Introduction cont’

• The most important sources for human infection are;

contaminated drinking and recreational water, food, HOUSEHOLD ANIMALS infected people

(Dillingham et al., 2002).

Introduction cont’

• Stray and domesticated dogs in many countries worldwide harbor Cryptosporidium (Ministerio et al., 2004).

Developing countries

Urban areas

Close proximity to dogs

Increased risk of D’se transmission

(Traub et al., 2005)

Lack of zoonoticawareness

Introduction cont’

Introduction cont’• The Cryptosporidium species associated with canines include;

– Cryptosporidium parvum, – C. canis, and – C. muris (Franco et al., 2001).

• Human Cryptosporidiosis is caused by; Cryptosporidium parvum, C. hominis, C. suis, C. canis, C. felis, C. meleagridis and C. muris (Caccio et al, 2005; Xiao and Ryan, 2004).

• Though;

– Small Animal Clinicians in Uganda have associated some

cases of gastro-enteritis in dogs to Cryptosporidiosis, and

– Sporadic cases of Cryptosporidiosis have been diagnosed

in CDL of CoVAB in MAK,

• No information about the prevalence

Introduction cont’

• Thus, this research was aimed at studying the prevalence of Cryptosporidiosis in dogs and the associated risk factors

Introduction cont’

Materials and Methods• Study area: Kampala; 3 Vet Clinics (CoVAB Clinic, KVS and

Vetlove)

• Study population: Dogs brought from within Kampala for

treatment in the 3 Clinics

• Sample size determination:

100 dogs were sampled

N=1.962Pexp(1- Pexp)/d2 (Thrushfield et al., 2001), was used

Pexp=5% (Fontanarrosa et al., 2006)

• Data Collection method:

Questionnaires

Faecal samples

• Faecal sample analysis method:

Zeihl-Nelseen staining technique

• Data Management and Statistical Analysis:

– The data coded and entered in to Microsoft Excel.

– Analyzed using STATA version 11.2.

– Numerical summaries, graphs and Pie Charts were obtained.

Materials and Methods cont’

Materials and Methods cont’

Results and Discussion

Author(s) Prevalence Method Country

Batchelor et al., 2008

0.6% Faecal staining Britain

Overgaauw et al., 2009

8.7% Faecal staining Netherlands

Current study 36% Faecal staining Uganda

Chermette and Blondel, 1989

44.8% Immunoflourescence

France

Hamnes et al., 2007 44.1% Immunoflourescence

Norway

Titilincu et al., 2010 52.7% ELISA Romania

Even within the same species, the prevalence of cryptosporidium varies with method of diagnosis used as well as geographical location (Hammnes et al., 2007).

Results and Discussion cont’

Place of sample

collection

Number sampled Frequency of

Crypto

Prevalence (%) of

Cryptosporidiosis

P value

College Clinic 53 16 30.1 0.434KVS 16 7 43.7

USPCA 31 13 41.9Total 100 36 36

Fecal consistency Number sampled Frequency of

cryptosporidiosis

Prevalence (%) of

cryptosporidiosis

P value

Normal 83 29 34.9 0.626

Diarrheic 17 7 41.1

Total 100 36 36

Results and Discussion cont’

No. sampled Frequency Prevalence (%) P value

Purpose

Home security 60 23 38.3 0.210

Companion 28 8 28.6

Breeding 10 3 30.0

Sniffer 2 2 100

Breed

Mongrel 34 11 32.3 0.959

Basenji 21 8 38.1

German shepherd 21 8 38.1

Others 24 8 33.3

Sex

Male 59 23 38.9 0.456

Female 41 13 31.7

Age

Young (<6 Months) 33 10 30.3 0.180

Middle aged 45 14 31.1

Elderly (>5 years) 22 11 50.0

• Mosallanejad et al. (2010) reported that cryptosporidium infection was not significant between different age groups.

• However, Fontanarrosa et al. (2006), Hamnes et al. (2007) and Papazahariadou et al. (2007), in contrast reported the highest level of prevalence in dogs <6-month-old, and declining with age.

Results and Discussion cont’

Number

sampled

Frequency Prevalence (%) P value

Water source

Boiled 16 6 37.5 0.892

Un-boiled 84 30 35.7

Food source:

Prepared 96 33 34.3 0.097

Scavenged 4 3 75

Number of dogs kept

One 19 6 31.5 0.702

More than one 80 29 36.3

Access to outside environment

Never 93 31 33.3 0.006

Yes 7 5 71.4

Access to outside environment

• Dogs that roam have more chances of picking up such oocysts from the environment and thus acquiring the infection.

Results and Discussion cont’

• This implies that the prevalence of Cryptosporidiosis would be even higher in stray and semi-domesticated dogs.

• This could also explain the higher prevalence found in sniffer dogs than in dogs for other purposes

Results and Discussion cont’

Level of zoonotic awareness

Results and Discussion cont’

• The level of awareness is thus suspected to be even lower for owners of semi-domesticated dogs in Kampala and for dog owners in rural areas in Uganda.

Results and Discussion cont’

Factors predisposing humans to the infections from dogs

Results and Discussion cont’

Conclusion and Recommendations

Conclusion:

• The prevalence of Cryptosporidiosis in dogs in

Kampala is 36%.

• Allowing dogs access to environments outside

homesteads predisposes them to Cryptosporidiosis

Conclusion cont’

• Forty two percent (42%) of dog owners in Kampala are not sure about possibility of acquiring the parasite from their dog.

Conclusion cont’

• The predisposing factors for humans include: – Grooming and cleaning dog kennels without hand

gloves, and – Allowing an infected dog to sleep or stay in the

living room.

Recommendations • Dog owners should be more vigilant and undertake

measures such as regular examination of their dogs for Cryptosporidium infection to prevent humans from acquiring the disease

• A parallel epidemiological study on “Crypto” that includes dogs and humans together, esp. HIV/AIDS patients

• A study on the prevalence of “Crypto” in stray and semi-domesticated dogs and cats

Recommendations cont’