The Effects of Gastrointestinal Helminths on packed Cell Volume (PCV), Eosinophil Count and Total Plasma Protein (TPP) in Local Breed Dogs in Zambia

 The Effects of Gastrointestinal Helminths on packed Cell Volume (PCV), Eosinophil Count and Total Plasma Protein (TPP) in Local Breed Dogs in Zambia

Blood samples were concurrently collected from 269 local breed dogs during a study to determine the prevelance of gastrointestinal (GI) helminths and the results matched with those of faecal samples. The aim of the present study was to determine the effects of GI helminth infection on the clinical health indices and evaluate the ability of age and GI infection status to predict these parameters for local breed dogs in Zambia. Two hundred and sixty nine dogs were sampled and of these 211 (78.4%) were parasitized with Ancylostoma caninum, Toxocara canis, Dipylidium caninum, Trichuris vulpis or Toxascaris leonine while 21.56% (58/269) were non-parasitized.