| Description |
During 1948 and 1949, a random sampling of 200 nondescript dogs from Salt Lake City were surveyed for intestinal helminthes. As far as could be determined from the literature, inquires of local veterinarians and officials of the Salt Lake City Board of Health, no such survey had heretofore been attempted in this area. A system of collecting was devised which prevented a repeat sampling and made possible the treatment with vermifuge, or autopsy, of the proper dog when necessary. Great care was given to the choice of laboratory methods and the most efficient technics were used. All specimens were examined by the following three laboratory technics to insure the greatest accuracy possible. 1. Direct thin smear. 2. Willis-Malloy sodium chloride levitation concentration technic. 3. Centrifuge concentration technic with the author's modifications. The results of the survey were based on the findings of the three preceding laboratory technics with the exception of the diagnosis of one species, that of Taenia pisiformis. This species was diagnosed once from the proglottid recovered in a stool and once by the adult worm recovered from the autopsy of a dog. The most significant result of this survey of 200 dogs in the Salt Lake City area was the finding of 44 dogs or 22 per cent infected with intestinal helminthes. Of the total 200 dogs examined: 156 or 78.0% were negative, 22 or 11.0% infected with hookworm, 9 or 4.5% infected with Toxocara canis, 7 or 3.5% infected with Toxascaris leonina, 2 or 1.0% infected with Trichuris vulpis, 1 or 0.5% infected with Dipylidium caninum, 2 or 1.0% infected with Taena pisiformis , and 1 or 0.5% infected with Taenia sp. The parasite, Echinococcus granulosus, was not found in this survey even though special attention had been directed to its recovery. The total percentage of intestinal helminth infection in this survey was less than that for the majority of other studies that have been reported. The explanation of this fact can be explained to a large extent from the random selection of dogs upon which the survey was made. Most of the other reported studies were conducted on dogs which were often thought to have a pathological condition and were examined at a veterinary hospital. A discussion of the data from similar studies in other areas was presented for the comparison of the data in this survey. Since no suitable key to the ova of the important intestinal helminthes of dogs was found in the literature using egg characteristics, an attempt was made to construct such a key. |
