Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
High risk of Trypanosoma cruzi infection in Texas kennel dogs
By Busselman, Rachel E et al.·Published in PLoS neglected tropical diseases·2021·Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: High incidence of Trypanosoma cruzi infections in dogs directly detected through longitudinal tracking at 10 multi-dog kennels, Texas, USA.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs living in multi-dog kennels in Texas were found to be at high risk for a parasite infection called Chagas disease, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi. Over a year, researchers tracked 64 dogs, discovering that 30 dogs were already infected and 10 previously healthy dogs became infected during the study. This means that about 31 out of every 100 dogs in these environments could get infected each year. The findings suggest that more needs to be done to protect dogs and humans from this disease, including better control of the insects that spread it and effective treatments for infected dogs.
People also search for: dog Chagas disease symptoms · how to prevent dog parasite infections · treatment for Trypanosoma cruzi in dogs
Abstract
Canine Chagas disease, caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, is increasingly recognized as a health concern for dogs in the USA, and infected dogs may signal geographic regions of risk for human disease. Dogs living in multi-dog kennel environments (kennels with more than one dog) where triatomine vectors are endemic may be at high risk for infection. We monitored a cohort of 64 T. cruzi-infected and uninfected dogs across 10 kennels in Texas, USA, to characterize changes in infection status over one year. We used robust diagnostic criteria in which reactivity on multiple independent platforms was required to be considered positive. Among the 30 dogs enrolled as serologically- and/or PCR-positive, all but one dog showed sustained positive T. cruzi diagnostic results over time. Among the 34 dogs enrolled as serologically- and PCR-negative, 10 new T. cruzi infections were recorded over a 12-month period. The resulting incidence rate for dogs initially enrolled as T. cruzi-negative was 30.7 T. cruzi infections per 100 dogs per year. This study highlights the risk of T. cruzi infection to dogs in kennel environments. To protect both dog and human health, there is an urgent need to develop more integrated vector control methods as well as prophylactic and curative antiparasitic treatment options for T. cruzi infection in dogs.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34758049/