Defining important canine zoonotic pathogens within the Prairie Provinces of Canada

Abstract

The goal of this study was to establish a short list of zoonotic pathogens involving the domestic dog that can be prioritized for a companion animal surveillance program specific to the Prairie Provinces of Canada. A list of pathogens documented in dogs was created through a comprehensive review of infectious disease textbooks for the following taxonomical categories: bacteria, ectoparasites, fungi, helminths, protozoa, rickettsia, and viruses. This created an initial list of 594 pathogens that was then pared down through an extensive review of the literature using the following criteria: i) the pathogen is zoonotic/sapronotic/anthroponotic; ii) the dog is involved in transmission to humans, maintenance, or detection of the pathogen; and iii) there is a level of risk for occurrence of the pathogen in Canada. This process yielded a final list of 84 pathogens and 3 supplementary lists of canine zoonotic/sapronotic/anthroponotic pathogens that may become relevant to future surveillance programs.

Figure 1

Stepwise approach used to pare down the initial pathogen list to identify important canine pathogens from a public health perspective in the Prairie Provinces.

Figure 2

Four-tiered approach to categorize a pathogen’s risk level of occurrence within Canada.

Figure 3

Resulting number of pathogens that fulfilled the criteria for each step. Tier 1 = final shortlist. “Grey-Zone,” Tier 2, Tier 3 = supplementary lists.