Worm burden, dispersion and egg count of Echinococcus granulosus in stray dogs of Mosul City, Iraq

Abstract EN

Worm burden, dispersion and egg count of Echinococcus granulosus were studied in Mosul city during 1997 to 1999.

One hundred and twenty adult stray dogs were killed and necropsied for detection and determination of the actual number and dispersion of E.

granulosus along the small intestine.

Results revealed that worm loads ranged between 52 to 2000 worms with an average 1026 worm per dog.

The commonest site of worms was the second third of the small intestine (75 %), followed by the first third (20 %).

Few helminths were recovered in the last third which constituted 5 %.

The number of ova observed in the uteri of a gravid segment was 80 to more than 3000.

The findings showed that 16.66 % of the dogs harbour the cestode.