Bayer Animal Health is launching a three-year canine parasite research project in India aimed at providing a comprehensive report on parasites and vector-borne diseases affecting stray and semi-domesticated dogs. 
Some of the activities done by Vets Beyond Borders in Sikkim, India. Access the photo gallery here
Photos: Vets Beyond Borders
The project will study mosquito and tick-transmitted infectious diseases in street dogs and zoonotic gastrointestinal parasites that can spread from animals to humans. The project is a collaborative effort between Dr Rebecca Traub, lecturer of veterinary public health at the School of Veterinary Sciences, University of Queensland and Vets Beyond Borders.
Dr Anna Dean of Vets Beyond Borders said that obtaining such data in the past had been limited by financial factors, logistics and available expertise, and the lack of appropriate diagnostic tools that could provide comprehensive data on the nature of these infectious diseases.
Blood, fecal and lymph node aspirates will be collected from anesthetized dogs undergoing routine sterilization under Vets Beyond Borders’ animal birth control programs in Sikkim and Ladakh. Street dogs will also be sampled in Delhi and Mumbai.
“These samples will be screened for important infectious diseases affecting dogs, such as canine heartworm and tropical canine pancytopenia, as well as for those parasites capable of infecting humans, such as canine hookworm, roundworm, the hydatid tapeworm, and intestinal protozoa such as Giardia,” Vets Beyond Borders said.
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