Parasitologia Veterinaria

A Parasitologia é a área da Biologia que estuda o parasitismo. O parasitismo ocorre quando um organismo (parasita) vive em associação com outro organismo (hospedeiro), do qual retira os meios para sua sobrevivência, causando prejuízos – ou seja, doenças – ao hospedeiro durante este processo.

Os Parasitologistas estudam os parasitas e a relação entre os parasitas e seus hospedeiros. Embora os parasitas possam ser encontrados em qualquer forma de vida, a parasitologia é geralmente confinada ao estudo de parasitas protozoários e metazoários.

As pesquisas aplicadas a parasitologia têm como objetivo identificar os processos de desenvolvimento de epidemias parasitárias, controlar os vetores, criar métodos de profilaxia de doenças causadas pelos parasitas (tanto em seres humanos quanto em animais) e desenvolver tratamentos.

Nessa perspectiva, apresento a coleção “Interação Parasito-Hospedeiro”, uma obra que apresenta 5 capítulos distribuídos em temáticas que abordam de forma categorizada e interdisciplinar trabalhos e pesquisas que envolvem a Parasitologia Médica e Veterinária. Esse e-book traz resultados de pesquisas na área das Ciências da Vida desenvolvidas por professores e acadêmicos de instituições públicas e privadas. É de suma importância ter essa divulgação científica, por isso a Atena Editora se propõem a contribuir através da publicação desses artigos científicos, e assim, contribui com o meio acadêmico e científico.

Desejo a todos uma excelente leitura.

Parasitic diseases in dogs, produced by nematodes (families Toxocaridae, Trichuridae, Onchocercidae, Ancylostomatidae and Strongyloididae) and cestodes (family Dilepididae), are a frequent occurrence in the clinical veterinary medicine. These helmintic diseases are important zoonotic infections, prevalent in urban areas; infectious diseases caused by protozoans (genus Cystoisospora and Giardia), also have acquired great importance for the animal and humam health. The close relationship between men and dogs, and the growth of canine population in the urban areas, has made some of these parasitic infections an important problem of Public Health. Thus, the knowledge of its prevalence is an important way of prevention and control.
This present work purposed to determine the prevalence of these infections in dogs from the city of Hortolândia (Brazil), as well as evaluate the risk to the human health; feces samples (n = 250), blood samples (n = 66) and samples from necropsies (n = 50) were collected and examined in the understood period between the years of 2006 and 2008. These samples came from stray dogs (uncontrolled), adults (from one year of age), captured and kept in the dependences of the Center of Zoonoses Control (CCZ) and evaluated by the traditional methods of laboratory for diagnosis of helminths and protozoans. The necropsies had been done in animals submitted to the euthanasia, after veterinary evaluation.
The overall prevalence of endoparasites in this work was 87,2% in feces samples and 100% in necropsies. The parasites observed in feces samples were Ancylostoma sp. (79,2%), Giardia duodenalis (20,0%), Toxocara sp. (16,8%), Cystoisospora sp. (16,4%), Trichuris vulpis (11,6%), Dipylidium caninum (1,6%) and Toxascaris leonina (1,2%). The parasites observed in necropsies were Ancylostoma caninum (72,0%), Dipylidium caninum (64,0%), Toxocara canis (44,0%), Cystoisospora sp. (30,0% in necropsy’s feces samples), Trichuris vulpis (20,0%) e Toxascaris leonina (2,0% in necropsy’s feces samples).
There was statistically significant difference between gender for the nematodes Toxocara spp., with higher prevalence in males (p = 0,0137) and Trichuris vulpis, with higher prevalence in females (p = 0,0015). There was statistically significant difference
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between seasons for the nematodes Ancylostoma spp., with less prevalence in spring (p = 0,0001) and Trichuris vulpis, with higher prevalence in winter (p = 0,0039). The data demonstrated the high prevalence of these parasitic infections in adult dogs, with changeable ages, from one year, until senile animals, mainly in animals under adverse life conditions (abandonment, malnutrition, illnesses); they also suggest the high degree of environmental contamination and, consequently, the risk to the human health (directly, by the contact with these environments and indirectly, by the exposition of the domiciliated dogs, when in contact with these environments or stray dogs).