Table 3.

Gastrointestinal helminth prevalence in foxes (Vulpes vulpes), coyotes (Canis latrans), and wolves (Canis lupus) observed by gross examination and fecal flotation combined (N = 250), and compared by climate regions of Québec, Canada. Fecal infection intensity is categorized using a semi-quantitative scale.

	Subarctic			Humid Continental												Difference in parasite prevalence between regions (only foxes, N = 155)
	Foxes = 74			Foxes = 81			Coyotes = 73			Wolves = 22			Difference in parasite prevalence among canid host species in the Humid Continental climate (N = 176)
	N	%b	Ia	N	%b	Ia	N	%b	Ia	N	%b	Ia	N	%b	P	N	%b	P
Cestodes
Diphyllobothriids (likely Dibothriocephalus spp.)c	4	5 (2–13)	1+ to 2+	1	1 (0–7)	1+	8	11 (6–20)	1+	1	5 (1–22)	0	10	6 (3–10)	0.02	5	3 (1–7)	0.19
Taeniid (Echinococcus spp. and/or Taenia spp.)	2	3 (1–9)	1+	11	14 (8–23)	0	37	51 (39–62)	1+ to 2+	14	64 (43–80)	1+	62	35 (29–43)	<0.001	13	8 (5–14)	0.02
Nematodes
Capillaria spp.	0	0 (0–5)	1+	1	1 (0–7)	1+	0	0 (0–5)	0	0	0 (0–15)	0	1	1 (0–3)	1.0	1	1 (0–4)	1.0
Toxascaris leonina	41	55 (44–66)	1+ to 4+	10	12 (7–21)	1+ to 4+	3	4 (1–11)	1+	1	5 (1–22)	1+	14	8 (5–13)	0.14	51	33 (26–41)	<0.001
Toxocara canis	2	3 (1–9)	1+	15	19 (12–28)	1+ to 2+	2	3 (1–10)	1+ to 2+	0	0 (0–15)	0	17	10 (6–15)	<0.001	17	11 (7–17)	0.002
Trichuris sp.	16	22 (14–32)	1+ to 3+	33	41 (31–52)	1+ to 2+	6	8 (4–17)	1+	2	9 (3–28)	1+	41	23 (18–30)	<0.001	49	32 (25–39)	0.02
Uncinaria sp.	7	10 (5–18)	0	5	6 (3–14)	1+	3	4 (1–11)	1+ to 2+	1	5 (1–22)	1+	9	5 (3–9)	0.89	12	8 (5–13)	0.55
Trematodes
Alaria americana	29	39 (29–51)	1+ to 2+	42	52 (41–62)	1+ to 3+	18	25 (16–36)	1+	7	32 (16–53)	1+	67	38 (31–45)	0.002	71	46 (38–54)	0.15
Cryptocotyle lingua	24	32 (23–44)	0	2	3 (1–9)	0	0	0 (0–5)	0	0	0 (0–15)	0	2	1 (0–4)	0.62	26	17 (12–23)	<0.001
Metorchis sp.	1	1 (0–7)	1+	0	0 (0–5)	0	0	0 (0–5)	0	0	0 (0–15)	0	0	0 (0–2)	1.0	1	1 (0–4)	0.48
Overall parasite prevalence after fecal flotationd	57	77 (66–86)	-	53	65 (54–75)	-	22	30 (20–42)	-	6	27 (12–50)	-	81	46 (39–54)	<0.001	110	71 (63–78)	0.16
Overall parasite prevalence combining gross examination/fecal flotationd	67	91 (82–95)	-	71	88 (79–93)	-	53	73 (61–82)	-	16	73 (52–87)	-	140	80 (73–85)	0.05	138	89 (83–93)	0.62

^aFecal infection intensity: 1+ 1–50 eggs per gram of feces (epg)/2 + 51–250/3 + 251–1000/4+ >1000.

^b95% confidence intervals are displayed in parentheses.

^cMost likely D. latus (previously Diphyllobothrium latum) or D. dendriticus (previously Diphyllobothrium dendriticum).

^dCanids infected with at least one gastrointestinal helminth species observed by fecal flotation, or combining gross examination and fecal flotation.