Parasitic helminth infection in anurans from Ozomo Wetland, Edo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Anurans from Ozomo Wetland were examined for parasitic helminth infection. Among these anurans were Arthroleptis poecilonotus, Arthroleptis sp., Leptopelis occidentalis, L. spiritusnoctus, Sclerophrys maculata, Hoplobatrachus occipitalis, Hyperolius concolor, H. fusciventris burtoni Phase B, Hyperolius sp., Afrixalus dorsalis, Ptychadena bibroni, P. longirostris, P. mascareniensis, P. oxyrhynchus, P. pumilio, Hemisus marmoratus and Silurana tropicalis. The prevalence and intensity of infection recorded in the anurans were 58.2% and 9.5 parasites/infected host, respectively. Eighteen parasite species were recovered and these include the monogeneans (Polystoma aeschilimanni, P. prudhoei and P. prucei); digeneans (Diplodiscus fischthalicus, Metahaematoloechus micrurus and Mesocoelium monodi) and nematodes (Amplicaecum sp., Aplectana sp., Batrachocamallanus siluranae, Camallanus dimitrovi, Chabaudus leberrei, Cosmocerca commutata, C. ornata, Physaloptera sp., Rhabdias africanus, Rhabdias sp., an unidentified nematode and an unidentified oxyurid nematode). These parasites were recovered from different microhabitats (oesophagus/stomach, small intestine, large intestine/rectum lungs and urinary bladder) in the anuran hosts. Nematode was the dominant parasite with 66.7% infection while the monogeneans and digeneans had 16.7% infection each. Metahaematoloechus micrurus recorded in this study had unusually large testes which have not been observed in other specimens recorded elsewhere and there is need for further investigation.
 Keywords: anurans, species, farming, logging, deforestation, digeneans, nematodes, prevalence, intensity, Nigeria

Assessment of Anthelmintic Activity of Pisum sativum

“…Ideally the anthelmintic agent should have large scale of action and should have effective curing ability with single therapeutic dose, without causing any harm to host 8 .The requirement for new and effective anthelmintic drug is massive, as the synthetic drugs used in the control of helminth is costly and the majority of them lose their efficiency in 15-20 years due to the problem of resistance 9 .Various synthetic medicine have been used for the treatment of helmintic infection like Albendazole, Benzimidazole, Thiabendazole, Levamisole, Butamisole, Pyrantel, Morantel, Oxantel, Bephenium and Thenium. Anthelmentic drugs have various adverse drug reactions like toxocariasis, severe renal failure, sickness, vomiting, abdominal pain [10][11][12][13] . These side effects caused by synthetic anthelmintic drugs can be overcome by using herbal formulation, herbal formulations are safe to use and cost effective, In ancient times near to 3000 years ago in India when there are no synthetic medicines was developed then people used Ayurvedic plants [14][15][16] .…”