Comparison of two conventional diagnostic methods of intestinal nematodes in Canis familiaris with the post-mortem examination

© 2018 Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos. All rights reserved. The diagnostic effectiveness of two parasitological tests in feces, the simple direct method and the flotation method, were compared against post-mortem findings utilizing samples collected from 180 street dogs euthanized during a rabies control campaign. Post-mortem examination revealed that 27% of the animals were infected with tapeworm (Toxocara canis and Toxascaris leonina), but the simple direct method and the flotation method only indicated 12.7% (0.47 + 0.07 sensibility) and 17.2 % (0.63 + 0.07 sensibility), respectively. Kappa and McNemar analysis showed statistical differences and an agreement index of 0.68 ± 0.07 between both tests. The results produced by the simple direct and flotation methods were weakly and moderately proportional to the post-mortem findings, indicating that the flotation method is more efficient than the simple direct method, although both methods may produce negative results for cases with a low level of parasitism.