Prevalence of Eimeria species of the domestic goats Capra hircus Linnaeus, 1758 in Al-Baha area, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

This work aimed to identify Eimeria species of goats and to investigate the factors that might potentially influence their prevalence and parasite load. This study was conducted in Al-Baha area, southwest Saudi Arabia from September 2011 to June 2012. Out of 336 faecal samples examined, 180 (53.57%) were positive for Eimeria oocysts. The prevalence of Eimeria ranged from 39.64% to 61.40% in different localities. Nine different Eimeria species were identified from faecal samples of goats. Eimeria species were: Eimeria arloingi (35.71%), E. alijevi (26.19%), E. hirci (25.29%), E. ninakohlyakimovae (16.36%), E. christenseni (14.59%), E. caprina (11.31%), E. jolchijevi (9.52%), E. caprovina (5.59%) and E. apsheronica (3.27%). E. arloingi (35.71%), E. alijevi (26.19%) and E. hirci (25.29%) were the most prevalent species and E. apsheronica (3.27%) was the least prevalent one. The main factors affecting prevalence and parasite load of Eimeria species were host age, locality and season. Significant negative correlations were found between host age and both prevalence and OPG number. Multiple-species infections were detected in 89.44% of positive goats which carried two to five species. In conclusion, the prevalence of coccidiosis is relatively low compared to other studies. Moreover, no signs of clinical coccidiosis were found in this study. We need further research to study the interaction between multiple-species infections in coccidiosis and parasite load in natural host-parasite systems.

Detection of eimeria species in domestic goat with both microscopic and molecular methods in Al-Diwaniyah Province

“…Regarding to type of infection, the result of the present study demonstrated that, the single Eimeria infection was more common (57.62%), than the double (21.43%), triple (0.95%) and quadruple (0.48%) infection. Significant (p<0.01) difference was observed .The result was similar to other researchers as Hasan and Mahmood (2021) in Iraq (Tikrit) and Ibrahim (2012) in Saudi Arabia, .Also ,the present results were agreement with results of Sufi et al (2017), who found that, the occurrence of single-species of Eimeria infection was higher than mixedspecies infection. The reason might be the rearing system in the study area.…”

“…These results were agreement with results obtained by Al-Bayati et al (2016) in Iraq who recorded the rate of infection of Eimeria species in both sexes was (95.7%) in males and (93.2%) in females, other results of Mohamaden et al (2018) showed that, there was no significant difference between males and females in the prevalence of Eimeria infection in goats. Ibrahim (2012) in Saudi Arabia who recorded the rate of infection in both sexes which was (55.19%) in males and (51.63%) in females with no significant difference. The infection rate which recorded in male and female in our study were different than other studied may be due to exposure different environmental condition and different management.…”