Assessment of fecal parasitism for decision making in continued deworming of slum stray dogs in Nairobi areas of Kenya

The objective of this study was to establish the density of infestation of slum dogs with gastrointestinal helminths in locations where vaccination and deworming campaigns had been carried out for a period of 3 years. A total of 150 dogs were randomly sampled from a total of 300 animals that were attended to in a rabies control campaign in Nairobi slum areas between the months of July and September, 2011. Eggs per gram (EPG) and worm identification were done from the fecal samples of the animals included in the study and the prevalence on age, sex and breed were also determined. The EPG were generally high for both hookworms and ascarids with a range of 1083 to 1105 and 515 to 637, respectively. The larvae of the most prevalent species identified were Ancylostoma caninum and Toxocara canis. There was no statistical significant difference (P=0.9) between EPG counts in males and females at p<0.05. The prevalence was high among the puppies at 58.8% (44/75) as compared to the adult dogs at 38.3% (29/75) when P = 0.01. From the findings of this study, it was concluded that the density of infestation of stray slum dogs with gastrointestinal worms was high and therefore there is need to address routine and strategic deworming.