A survey on the status of viral diseases of livestock characterized by skin lesions was carried out between November, 2016 and March 2017 in Kanam Local Government Area (LGA) of Plateau State, Nigeria. Questionnaires were administered and suspected cases of Lumpy skin disease (LSD), Goat pox (GTP), Contagious ecthyma (CE) and Bovine papilloma (BP) were investigated. Samples collected were subjected to polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The questionnaires were administered to livestock farmers (n=109), butchers (n=11) and livestock traders (n=13). The results indicated that majority of livestock farmers (94.50%), butchers (100%) and livestock traders (100%) were familiar with these viral diseases of livestock. Farmers in the study area also indicated that they had observed LSD (64.5%) and BP (7.34%) in cattle; GTP (67.9%) and CE (59.5%) in sheep and goats in the last 12 months. Data collated from the questionnaire survey showed these viral diseases of livestock also affect trade price with reduction of about 50-75% of real value of affected animals. The PCR result of samples collected from clinically diagnosed cases of orf shows that 3 out 4 samples analyzed were positive. Likewise, 1 out of 3 samples collected from clinically diagnosed cases of GTP were positive by PCR. The PCR results validate the respondents‘ feedback on the presence these viral skin diseases of livestock in study area. This report provides baseline epidemiological data on the status of these diseases of livestock and further investigation is needed to better understand the impact of viral skin diseases of livestock in Kanam LGA.Keywords: Survey; viral skin diseases; Kanam; Nigeria
Prevalence of haemoparasites and gastrointestinal parasites of cattle in Bassa local government area of Plateau State was carried out. The study showed that haemoparasites was less prevalence (21.70%) compared to gastrointestinal parasites (53.77%). Nine parasites were encountered among which Eimeria species has the highest prevalence of 26.42% followed by Oesophagostuma radiatum with 18.87%, while Strongyloides, Syngamus laryngeus and Babesia bigemina has the least prevalence with 0.94%.The mean PCV of 35.13±5.2 (ranges from 24% to 54%) and 35.02±4.9 (ranges from 23% to 50%) for animals with one or more parasites or non-parasites respectively showed no significant difference (P<0.5). There was a high prevalence observed in females (44.34%) than males (40.57%) and high in adults compared to young animals. There was a high prevalence in white Fulani than other breeds which is due to the fact that white Fulani is the most common breed of cattle in the study area. White Fulani recorded the highest prevalence of 24.53% followed by Red Fulani with 21.70% and Sokoto Gudali with 19.81%, while N'dama and Muturu had least the prevalence of 9.43% each which shows a significant difference (P<0.05) between the breed of animals.
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