Study on prevalence, round worm species composition - Toxocara spp. in dogs in Khanh Hoa province

Abstract

A total of 337 fecal samples of dogs raising in Khanh Hoa province were collected and examined for Toxocara eggs by Füllerborn method. The examined results showed that the infection rate of dogs with Toxocara eggs was 28.48%, in which, the infection rate of dogs in Nha Trang city, Dien Khanh district and Khanh Vinh district was 18.58%, 24.13%, 43.51%, respectively. A total of 196 roundworm samples in dogs were collected and identified for species composition by morphology and PCR technique, ITS-2 gene sequencing. As a result, all the roundworm samples belonged to the Toxocara canis. The nucleotide sequences of Toxocara canis samples in dogs in Khanh Hoa province had a very high similarity level (99.4% -100%) and were similar to Toxocara canis strains on the GenBank (97% -100%). The Toxocara canis strains from different origins but they shared a very high similarity level and belonged to the same branch in the phylogenetic tree.