Morphological characterization and molecular identification of a main cestode species in dogs in several provinces of Mekong Delta

Abstract

The study was conducted to identify the major cestode species infecting in the investigated dogs in
some provinces of the Mekong Delta, Viet Nam. There were 882 dogs examined for tapeworm infection
rate, intensity and tapeworm species by a comprehensive method. The morphological features of tapeworm
were identified for their properties, such as: colex, neck, mature proglottid, gravid proglottid and egg. The
studied results showed that the infection rate of parasitic tapeworms in the examined dogs was 26.3%.
Five infected cestode species were identified, such as Dipylidium caninum, Spirometra mansoni, Taenia
pisiformis, Taenia hydatigena and Diphylobothrium latum. Among them, Dipylidium caninum was the most
common tapeworm species infecting with the highest infection rate and intensity in the examined dogs.
The similarity level of the 28S rDNA gene sequence of the identified tapeworm species (D. caninum) was
96% in comparison with those of the American tapeworm (D. caninum) on the World Genealogical Bank
with the registration code AF023120.1.