Abstract

A cross-sectional survey was conducted to estimate the prevalence of small ruminant helminthosis and associated risk factors in and around Ambo town of central Oromia, Ethiopia between February and May, 2013. A total of 120 small ruminants were examined using standard parasitological procedures. The study showed that 49.2% of the study animals were found to harbor eggs of one or more gastrointestinal helminth parasites. Both sheep and goats have been shown to harbor strongyle species, Fasciola and mixed infections. The dominant helminth parasites observed in infected animals were strongyle species (81.4%). In addition, lower infection rate of Fasciola of 10.2% and mixed infections of 8.3% were found. The species level prevalence of the parasites was 47.8% (43/90) and 53.3% (16/30) in sheep and goats, respectively. Though the infection rate of gastrointestinal tract (GIT) parasites was higher in goats than sheep, the difference was statistically insignificant (P>0.05). Moreover, statistically insignificant association (P>0.05) was observed between animal species and infection with strongyles species, Fasciola or mixed infections. In this survey, no statistically significant effect (P>0.05) of animal sex, age, location and management system on prevalence of the helminth parasites was observed. However, prevalence significantly varied (c²=15.16; P=0.000) among different body condition scores. Animals with thin (OR=9.24, 95% CI: 2.70-31.57) and moderate (OR=5.10, 95% CI: 1.70-15.26) body condition scores were associated with high relative risk of infection with GIT helminth parasites than fat animals. In conclusion, body condition score was found to be the potential risk factor and should be considered during designing control measures against helminthosis of small ruminants in the study area.

Key words: Helminth parasites, prevalence, coprological examination, small ruminants, Ambo, Oromia.