Gastrointestinal parasites of cats in Egypt: high prevalence high zoonotic risk

Abstract

Background: Several gastrointestinal parasites that infect cats pose potential health threats for humans and animals. The present study is the first to report gastrointestinal (GIT) parasites in feces of stray cats from Gharbia governorate, Egypt. Findings were combined with those published in the earlier surveys from various Egyptian governorates, and various meta-analyses were conducted to underline the parasitic zoonoses from cats in Egypt.

Results: Out of 143 samples tested in Gharbia, 75 (52.4%) were found infected with 13 different parasites. Co-infections were observed in 49.3% of positives. Several parasites were detected, e.g., Toxocara cati (30.0%), Toxascaris leonina (22.4%), hookworms (8.4%), taeniids (4.2%), Strongyloides spp. (2.1%), Physaloptera spp. (2.1%), Alaria spp. (1.4%) and Dipylidium caninum (0.7%). Opisthorchis-like eggs were found in a single sample being the first report from cats in Africa. Oocysts of 4 coccidian parasites were identified, and a few Toxoplasma gondii-like oocysts were detected in 2 samples (1.4%). Results of the meta-analysis illustrated that occurrence of T. gondii oocysts in feces of cats from Egypt may have been overestimated in earlier studies; 1432 cats have been tested and displayed a 5 times higher pooled prevalence (11.9%) than the published global pooled prevalence for T. gondii oocysts in cats. This overestimation might have occurred because some small-sized oocysts that belong to other coccidian parasites were mis-identified as T. gondii. Toxocara cati had a high pooled prevalence (22.5%) in cats from Egypt, which is even greater than the published pooled prevalence in cats globally; however, several reports from Egypt have neglected the role of T. cati in human toxocarosis. Dipylidium caninum displayed also a high prevalence (26.7%).

Conclusion: Several zoonotic parasite species have been found in stray cats from Egypt, raising concerns about the risks to the Egyptian human population as well as environmental contamination. Prompt surveillance supervised by the government and accompanied by data dissemination will be helpful for developing effective control strategies.

Keywords: Cat; Cystoisospora; Egypt; Hookworms; Opisthorchis; Toxocara; Toxoplasma gondii; Zoonosis.

Fig. 1

Map of Egypt illustrating the study area. Source of original map before modifications: https://d-maps.com/carte.php?num_car=25356&lang=en

Fig. 2

Micrographs of helminths eggs isolated from stray cats in Gharbia governorate, Egypt. A T. cati larvated egg, B T. leonina embryonated egg, C Hookworms egg, D Physaloptera  spp. egg, E Taeniid eggs, F Opisthorchis-like egg

Fig. 3

Micrographs of protozoan oocysts isolated from stray cats in Gharbia governorate, Egypt. A Cystoisospora felis unsporulated (single arrow) and sporulated (double arrows) oocysts, B Cystoisospora rivolta unsporulated (B1) and sporulated (B2) oocysts, C T. gondii-like oocyst, D Sarcocystis spp. sporocyst (D1) and oocyst (D2), (E1-2) unsporulated different Eimeria spp. oocysts, (E3) sporulated Eimeria spp. oocyst

Fig. 4

Forest plot diagrams for random effects in the meta-analysis of the prevalence of T. gondii infections in cats from Egypt

Fig. 5

Forest plot diagrams for random effects in the the prevalence of T. cati infections in cats from Egypt

Fig. 6

Forest plot diagrams for random effects in the prevalence of D. caninum infections in cats from Egypt