Haematologic profile and prevalence survey of haemonchosis in various breeds of slaughtered cattle in Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract

This study was aimed at determining the haematological profile and prevalence ofHaemonchus parasites in cattle considering the breed, sex, age and body condition scores(BCS) of the animals. The study spanned over 12 months. Whole blood samples werecollected from various breeds of cattle with adult Haemonchus specimens from eachabomasum content of such animals slaughtered at a local abattoir in Ibadan, Southwestern Nigeria. Systematic random sampling method was adopted, with a working sample size of 322. The age and BCS of cattle sampled were estimated using rostral dentition technique and visual indicators, respectively. The adult Haemonchus worms were collected in normal saline and identified morphologically. The haematologic profile was determined using pocH- 100iV Diff® (Haematology System, Sysmex Animal Health Germany). Data obtained from this study were analyzed statistically using microsoft excel, SPSS (Version 20), and graphPad prism version 5.0 with Fisher's exact test Haematological profile in bovine haemonchosis showed anaemia with an overall mean packed cell volume (PCV) of 25.59±0.03%, whereas the apparently healthy cattle had a mean PCV of 34.52 ±0.02%. The overall prevalence of bovine haemonchosis was 16.6 %. Our findings revealed that prevalence of bovine haemonchosis varied with months, season, body condition score, age, breeds with no sex predisposition. There is a need for constant monitoring of gastrointestinal parasites, appropriate anthelminthic regimen and control measures to promote animal production and prevent huge economic losses as a result of subclinical, acute illness and death in severe levels of parasitism.

Comparative in Vivo Efficacy of Oral Formulations of Ivermectin and Levamisole Against Natural Helminth Infection in Small Ruminants

“…Hence, age and immunity level of the host both play important role in the onset of parasitic infection. The decreased burden of parasites or parasitemia in adults shows that the immunity has been developed due to consistent exposure of the host to parasitic infection (Jeremiah and Banwo, 2019). As the animals or the host passes specific age (one year in animals) it become resistant to most of parasitic infections while, some of the parasites requires continuous exposure to maintain their resistant level in the body of the host (Vlassoff et al, 2001).…”

“…Former is responsible for 26 M US$ annually losses in sheep and goat industry in Kenya while later resulted into 48.8 M Ethiopian Birr losses per year in Ethiopian highlands (Mukhebi et al, 1985;Ngategize et al, 1993). The economic losses due to haemonchosis in terms of productive and reproductive inefficiency have been reported worldwide including $ 436 million in Australia (Emery et al, 2016), $ 26 million in Kenya (Elemo and Geresu, 2017), $ 46 million in South Africa (Jeremiah and Banwo, 2019) and $ 103 million in India (Prakash et al, 2018).…”