An Epidemiological Study on Prevalence of Goat Warble Fly Infestation (GWFI) from Punjab Province, Pakistan

Abstract

from Khoshab and Chakwal districts of Punjab province for the prevalence of warble. The larvae were collected from the infested goats and identified as P. silenus. The results showed that the prevalence of GWFI was 17.8% (89/500). The number of nodules in the infested animals ranged from 1-14 (6.61±2.4). The breed wise prevalence was in beetle breed (13.2%), local breed (18%) and desi breed (22.9%), respectively. The sex wise prevalence was in male (15.3%) and in female (19.4%). The prevalence based on age showed that the rate of infestation in animals having age group (1-3 year) was 20.9%, (4-6 year) was 14.6% and (>6 year) was18.1%, respectively. The present study showed that these epidemiological factors have a significant effect on the prevalence of WFI in goats of Punjab Province. The results showed the effect of different treatments given to animals on the basis of sex, age groups, infested and non-infested animals. The results of this survey showed that the fly is active from March to June. It was first study on GWFI in Punjab Province; northern part of Pakistan. It would be very helpful in devising the future strategies towards the eradication and control of warble fly in other endemic areas of Pakistan. Keywords: Goat Warble Fly Infestation, GWFI, Prevalence, Przhevalskiana silenus, Khoshab, Chakwal districts, Pakistan Pakistan Punjab Eyaletindede Keçi Nokra Enfestasyonunun Prevalansı Üzerine Epidemiyolojik Bir Çalışma ÖzetBu çalışmanın amacı Pakistan'ın Punjab Eyaletinde Keçi Nokrasının prevalansını tespit etmektir. Keçi Nokrası Przhevalskiana silenus (Diptera: Oestridae) tarafından meydana getirilir. Prevalansın tespiti amacıyla Punjab'ın Khoshab ve Chakwal bölgelerinde Temmuz 2012 ile Ocak 2013 tarihleri arasında toplam 500 adet hayvan incelendi. Larvalar enfekte keçilerden toplandı ve P. silenus olarak identifiye edildi. Keçi Nokrasının prevalansı %17.8 (89/500) olarak tespit edildi. Hayvanlardaki nodüllerin sayısı 1-14 (6.61±2.4) olarak belirlendi. Türlere göre prevalans beetle ırkında %13.2, lokal ırklarda %18 ve desi ırklarda %22.9 olarak tespit edildi. Tekelerde prevalans %15.3 iken dişilerde %19.4 idi. Enfestasyon; 1-3 yaş arası keçilerde %20.9, 4-6 yaş arası olanlarda %14.6 ve 6 yaş üzerilerde %18.1 oranlarında mevcuttu. Araştırılan epidemiyolojik faktörlerin Punjab Eyaletinde Keçi Nokrasının prevalansı üzerinde önemli etkisi olduğu tespit edildi. Çalışmanın sonuçlarına göre nokranın Mart ayından Temmuz ayına kadar aktif olduğu belirlendi. Bu çalışma Keçi Nokrası üzerine Punjab Eyaletinde yapılan ilk çalışmadır. Çalışmanın Pakistan'ın diğer endemik bölgelerinde nokranın eradikasyonu ve kontrol edilmesine yönelik stratejileri belirlemede yararlı olacağı görüşündeyiz.

Seroepizootiological investigation on Goat Warble Fly Infestation (Przhevalskiana silenus) in Pothwar Plateau, Pakistan

“…The clinical and sub-clinical methods revealed no difference among both sexes. Our research findings were in line with previous studies (Rahbari & Ghasemi, 1997;Yadav et al, 2006;Oryan et al, 2009;Domínguez et al, 2010;Oryan & Bahrami, 2012;Arshad et al, 2014;Jan et al, 2014).…”

“…Among different age groups, higher seropositivity was observed in young animals of age group (<1 year) as compared to older animals (> 2 years) in all studied areas revealing a significant different (p < 0.05). Our findings of lower prevalence in older animals were in accordance with the previous studies (Otranto & Puccini, 2000;Oryan et al, 2009;Hassan et al, 2010;Arshad et al, 2014) whereas, low seropositivity in the animals over 3 years of age could be attributed to the development of acquired resistance in response to previous exposure (Oryan et al, 2009;Hassan et al, 2010;Jan et al, 2014). According to Oryan et al (2009), higher number of infested young goats might be due to their soft skin as compared to the hard and thicker skin of older animals, which serve as a barrier for the penetration of larvae.…”

“…Our results correlates with previous findings reported from different areas of Pakistan (Shah, 1981;Arshad et al, 2014) and other parts of the world (Otify & Mansour, 1994;Abo-Shehada et al, 2006;Oryan et al, 2009). However, no previous study by using serological assays was conducted yet on GWFI in Pothwar region, Pakistan.…”

“…The variation in prevalence rate among the districts might be due to management system, grazing patterns, pastures and use of insecticides. Similar findings were reported by Ahmed et al (2012) and Arshad et al (2014). The month wise study supported biological cycle as December has highest the seroprevalence whereas, prior to June no antibodies were observed in the animal body, as hypodermosis was in different development stage.…”

“…Previously, no significant difference among the breeds was detected (Tavassoli et al, 2010;Radfar & Hajmohammadi, 2012). In contrary, higher infestation in Desi (Tedy) breed might be due to their weak immune response (Arshad et al, 2014). Further investigations are required to evaluate the immunity of each breed against GWFI.…”