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131285 - Zoonotic helminth diseases in dogs and dingoes utilising shared resources in an Australian Aboriginal community.pdf (608.59 kB)

Zoonotic helminth diseases in dogs and dingoes utilising shared resources in an Australian Aboriginal community

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posted on 2023-05-20, 01:36 authored by Smout, FA, Skerratt, LE, Christopher JohnsonChristopher Johnson, Butler, JRA, Congdon, BC
The impacts of free-roaming canids (domestic and wild) on public health have long been a concern in Australian Indigenous communities. We investigated the prevalence of zoonotic helminth diseases in dogs and sympatric dingoes, and used radio telemetry to measure their spatial overlap, in an Aboriginal community in the Wet Tropics of Australia. Samples collected from dingoes and dogs showed high levels of infection with the zoonotic hookworm, Ancylostoma caninum. Dingoes were also positive for A. ceylanicum infection (11.4%), but dogs were infection free. Whipworm, Trichuris vulpis, infection was far more prevalent in necropsies of domestic dogs (78.6%) than dingoes (3.7%). Dogs were free from i>Dirofilaria immitis infection, while dingoes recorded 46.2% infection. Eleven dingoes and seven free-roaming domestic dogs were fitted with Global Positioning System collars and tracked over an extended period. Dingo home-ranges almost completely overlapped those of the domestic dogs. However, dingoes and dogs did not utilise the same area at the same time, and dogs may have avoided dingoes. This spatial overlap in resource use presents an opportunity for the indirect spill-over and spill-back of parasites between dogs and dingoes. Tracking and camera traps showed that the community rubbish tip and animal carcasses were areas of concentrated activity for dogs and dingoes.

History

Publication title

Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease

Issue

4

Article number

1-14

Number

1-14

Pagination

110

ISSN

2414-6366

Department/School

School of Natural Sciences

Publisher

MDPIAG

Place of publication

Switzerland

Rights statement

Copyright 2018 The Authors. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Repository Status

  • Open

Socio-economic Objectives

Control of pests, diseases and exotic species in terrestrial environments

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