Líffræðifélag Íslands - biologia.is
Líffræðiráðstefnan 2023
Höfundar / Authors: Guðný Rut Pálsdóttir*, Kristbjörg Sara Thorarensen*, Björn Schäffner*, Karl Skírnisson*
Starfsvettvangur / Affiliations: Tilraunastöðin á Keldum
Kynnir / Presenter: Guðný Rut Pálsdóttir
Iceland has strict conditions regarding importation of live animals to protect the local animal population from introduced pathogens. Since 1989, importation of dogs was permitted with a strict quarantine where faecal samples were primarily checked for helminth eggs and protozoans. In 2012, the Baermann technique was included in the routine parasitological diagnosis to test for nematode larvae such as those of Strongyloides stercoralis. This parasitic roundworm (Nematoda) has a complex life cycle that can alternate between free-living and parasitic cycles and involves autoinfection. It is a well-known parasite in humans, other primates, and dogs with a zoonotic potential, especially in tropical and subtropical regions. During 2012 and 2022, 2,608 dogs from 61 countries were imported to Iceland. Of those, 41 dogs (2%) were S. stercoralis positive. The breeds most frequently affected were French bulldogs (n=12) followed by Pomeranians (n=7) and Havanese (n=5). The areas where most of the positive dogs were imported from were Eastern Europe (n=19) and Scandinavia/Baltics (n=16). Although French bulldogs only represented 4% of imported dogs in this period, they amount to 30% of all S. stercoralis positive dogs. The data raises a series of questions regarding the emergence of this parasite in different countries, circumstances in kennels and a potentially higher susceptibility of certain breeds to infection or whether this nematode simply remained neglected.