Parasitic zoonoses: the awareness of veterinary practitioners

Aim. The connection between human and animal health is not a new observation: there are several examples of successful collaborations involving veterinary and medical scientist. During the second half of the 20th century Dr. Schwabe reintroduced the “One Medicine” concept in his book Veterinary Medicine and Human Health and is credited with renewing recognition that the “cumulative effect of all practitioners of medicine is aimed at quality of human life and survival” (Schwabe, 1984). The concept of “One Medicine, One Health” is based on information sharing and collaboration between human and veterinary medical practitioners. Pets in general are an important part of the public health picture being integral to the ecology of many of the infectious diseases currently important to society (Conrad P.A. et al, 2009, Prev. Vet. Med., 92:268-274). According to Cripps P.J. (Acta Trop., 2000, 76:77-80) “many veterinarians practitioners are scarcely aware of the importance of zoonoses than is desiderable and of their important role in public health”. In this regard a questionnaire-based investigation was performed, between veterinarians, with the aim to check their awareness with regard to pet parasitic zoonoses. Materials and Methods. In the 2009 a questionnaire was explained during a national congress of a veterinary association (UNISVET) and sent to the 2500 members. A standard form with multiple-choice was designed to obtain information on their view on some important or widespread parasitic zoonoses of pets: cheyletiellosis, cryptosporidiosis, dermatomycosis , dipylidiosis, echinococcosis, leishmaniosis, notoedric mange, sarcoptic mange, toxocarosis and toxoplasmosis were considered. For each disease veterinarians were asked to mark the answer on: severity of the disease in humans (yes /no), importance of the disease for their working area (none / low / medium / lot) and the number of cases /year (none / some / many). It was also asked to practitioners if they had seen cases of zoonoses occurring in the owner’s family (yes/no) and in which way they communicate the zoonotic risk to the pet’s owners. Information about veterinarians (geographical area of work, university and year of graduation) were also collected. The data analysis were focused on generation of descriptive statistics (frequencies/proportions) and on highlighting the relationship between zoonoses variables and practitioner’s characteristics. Results. A total of 210 (8.4%) out of 2.500 veterinarians contacted responded. Most of veterinarians surveyed were graduates in the last two decades (74.4%), studied (88.4%) and work in northern Italy (86.6%). They usually inform the pet’s owner about the zoonotic risk verbally (73.7%). The 83,7% of practitioners said they became aware of cases of zoonoses in the pet’s family; most of the diseases were dermatomycosis (148;70.5%), cheyletiellosis (32;15,2%) and sarcoptic mange (21;10%). Bivariate analysis revealed a statistically significant relationship (p <0.05) between information related to diseases and the veterinarians characteristics; a quite strong correlations emerged between importance attributed to disease and number of cases reported annually. Regarding the severity of disease in humans, the majority of respondents, with some exceptions, shown to have a common point of view, especially for those really dangerous. The survey revealed a ”regionalization” of the importance assigned to the different parasitic diseases supported by epidemiological or cultural factors. Conclusions. The results have shown the existence of well know zoonoses and neglected ones, probably due to cultural factors and epidemiological conditions, but also to a scientific and commercial trends that may leads veterinarians to assign a different weight to disease. Regard to the important role and responsibilities of veterinarians in public health, it would be appropriate a correct approach to the zoonoses, influenced as little as possibl..