Prevalence and Risk Factors of Gastrointestinal Nematodes Infections in Small Ruminants in Tullo District, Western Harerghe, Ethiopia

Abstract

A cross-sectional study was carried out in sheep and goats kept under extensive management system in Tullo district, Western Harerghe zone of Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia, during the period from November, 2013 to April, 2014. The main objectives of the study were to estimate the prevalence of nematode infection in small ruminants and to assess associated risk factors with its occurrence. A total of 384 fecal samples were collected from 168 sheep and 216 goats. The samples were examined using floatation technique and eggs per gram of faeces were determined. The overall prevalence for the nematode infection was 50.8% (195/384). Different nematode eggs including Strongyle (177, 46.1%), Strongyloides (35, 9.1%) and Trichuris eggs (31, 8.1%) were identified. The mean eggs per gram count showed that, 100 (56.5%) were heavily infected, 61(34.5%) were moderately infected and the remaining were lightly infected. The coproculture examination from the positive samples for strongyle eggs revealed the presence of Trichostrongylus species (sp), Haemonchus sp., Oesophagostomum sp., Cooperia sp., and Bunostomum sp. Gastrointestinal nematode parasitism is more prevalent (AOR=2.23) in sheep as compared to goats. It was also higher in animals with poor (AOR=4.54) and medium body conditions (AOR=2.02) as compared to animals with good body conditions. However, there was no statistically significant association between the occurrence of the infection and age, sex and origin of the animals'. In conclusion, gastrointestinal nematode parasites were highly prevalent in the study area and this could hamper health and productivity of the small ruminants. Thus, strategic control of nematode parasites should be planned and implemented to reduce the economic losses and welfare problems of the animals.

Prevalence of Haemonchus contortus Infections in Sheep and Goats in Nyagatare District, Rwanda

“…There were no statistically significant differences in the shedding of nematode eggs between male and female sheep ( Table 2 ). These results are in agreement with the findings of a study from Ethiopia [ 31 ] and Bangladesh [ 32 ]. In contrast, a significantly higher number of female than male goats had nematode eggs in their faeces.…”

Prevalence and intensity of gastrointestinal nematodes infection in sheep and goats in semi-intensively managed farm, South Ethiopia

“…In contrast to previous studies (Regassa et al, 2006;Tefera et al, 2009;Admasu and Nurlign, 2014) which reported relatively lower proportion of massive infection in sheep and goats, this study demonstrated that a higher proportion of sheep (60%) and goats (48.3%) examined were heavily infected. Consistent to the current finding, a higher proportion of massive infection has also been documented in other studies in the country (Abebe et al, 2010;Ahmed et al, 2017;Getachew et al, 2017). Observation of heavy intensity of infection in the present study may be attributed to lack of regular deworming practice in the farm and consequently increased contamination of grazing pasture with eggs excreted by infected animals.…”

“…In the present study, a high prevalence of GIN infection was recorded in both sheep (83.3%) and goats (87.9%) in KALHARI farm. This finding is higher than the prevalence reported by much of previous studies which ranges between 47.2 to 75.3% in sheep and 34.2 to 84.1% in goats in different parts of the country (Abebe et al, 2010;Admasu and Nurlign, 2014;Yimer and Birhan, 2016;Ahmed et al, 2017;Derso and Shime, 2017;Getachew et al, 2017). In contrast, higher prevalence than the present had been reported by other studies (Tefera et al, 2009;Aragaw and Gebreegziabher, 2014;Wondimu and Gutu, 2017).…”

“…In agreement to this finding, some of previous studies have also reported absence of significant prevalence differences between the two species (Tefera et al, 2009;Admasu and Nurlign, 2014;Aragaw and Gebreegziabher, 2014;Yimer and Birhan, 2016;Ahmed et al, 2017). In contrast to these, other researchers (Emiru et al, 2013;Belina et al, 2017;Derso and Shime, 2017;Getachew et al, 2017;Wondimu and Gutu, 2017) found significant difference in prevalence between sheep and goats. Similarly, unlike the present study, Abebe et al (2010) observed significantly higher mean FEC of GIN in sheep than goats.…”

Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors of Gastrointestinal Nematodes of Sheep and Goats in ZiwayDugda District, Eastern Arsi Zone of Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

“…In many parts of Ethiopia considerable amount of researches have been carried outby different researchers to investigate prevalence and intensity of nematode infection in small ruminants. The researches carried out around DebreZeit, ArsiNegele, Haramaya and Western Hararge by [18,19,20,21] showed prevalence of GI nematodes as being 86.7%, 69.01%, 88.8% and 50.8%respectively. In the district, the main form of agricultural practice is mixed (crop-livestock) production system where people mostly focus on crop production which leaves small area (marginal land, swampy and mountain) for grazing of animals.…”