Revista de salud animal y ciencias del comportamiento

Prevalence of Parasitic Helminthes from Feacal Samples of Cattle at Various Abattoirs in Abraka, Delta State, Nigeria

Abstract

Lemy EE and Egwunyenga AO

Occurrence of parasitic helminthes from feacal samples of cattle at various abattoirs in Abraka, Delta State, Nigeria was investigated. Visits were made to different abattoirs weekly for collection feacal samples as early as 6:00 am when the cattle are set for slaughter. The feacal specimen were collected directly from the rectum of slaughtered cattle using hand gloves on sample bottles for laboratory analysis using feacal floatation and direct smear methods. Status of the cattle was recorded as emaciated and moderate via visual examination. Each of the samples was clearly labeled with the animal’s sex, date of collection and place of collection. A total of 121 samples were collected from 4 abattoir/slaughter slab within Abraka. From the samples collected and examined, 61(50.4%) were positive to helminthes parasites which include Trichostrongyle sp., Trichuris sp., Taenia sp., Ascaris lumbricoides, Fasciola sp., Strongyloides sp. and Bonustonum sp. There were some incidences of mixed helminthes parasites in the feacal samples analyzed. From the study, Fasciola sp. and Strongyloides sp. were the most prevalent with 37.7% and 22.9% respectively. Based on the findings, there is clear evidence on high level of intestinal parasitic infectious helminthes in cattle slaughtered in the area. Hence, there is need to introduce improved preventive measures in controlling these helminthes in order to protect the entire cattle population against parasitic infection and poor health status.