Prevalence of Toxocara cati and other intestinal helminths in stray cats in Shiraz, Iran.

Toxocariasis is a parasitic zoonosis with worldwide distribution that affects both cats and dogs. Necropsy of 114 stray cats from Shiraz revealed that 106 (92.9%) stray cats were infected at least with one of the intestinal helminth species. The overall infection rates in stray cats infected with cestoda and nematoda were 105(99.1%) and 101(95.3%) respectively. The detected cestodes were Joyeuxiella pasqualei (34.3%), Dipylidium caninum (49.5%), Taenia taeniaeformis (12.3%), Spirometra sp. (3.8%) and the detected nematodes were Physaloptera sp. (44.6%), Toxocara cati (42.6%) and Toxascaris leonina (12.9%). The study revealed that T. cati was one of the most frequently detected intestinal helminths, which is an important source of zoonotic helminths.