Prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites in cattle and sheep in three municipalities in the Colombian Northeastern Mountain

Vet World Vol.12 January-2019 Article-6

Research Article

Veterinary World, 12(1): 48-54

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2019.48-54

Juan Carlos Pinilla Leon¹, Nelson Uribe Delgado², and Angel Alberto Florez¹

1. Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Santander, Faculty of Exact, Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Animal Science Research Group, Bucaramanga, Colombia.
2. Department of Parasitology, Industrial University of Santander, Faculty of Health, Research Group in Molecular Epidemiology, Bucaramanga, Colombia.

Background and Aim: The study was conducted to determine the prevalence of gastrointestinal (GI) parasites in cattle and sheep from three municipalities in the Colombian Northeastern Mountain.

Materials and Methods: Overall, 200 fecal samples were collected directly from the rectum in cattle and sheep. The presence of helminths eggs and coccidial oocysts in fecal samples was detected using McMaster and Dennis techniques. Identification of eggs or oocysts was done on the basis of morphology and size of the eggs or oocysts.

Results: The global prevalence of GI parasites was 56.3%. Regarding the prevalence by municipalities, there was no statistical association (p>0.05), indicating that the prevalence was similar in the three municipalities. The prevalence of parasitic infection was higher in sheep (63%) as compared to that of cattle (50.5%), but the difference was nonsignificant (p>0.05). The most prevalent parasites were Eimeria spp., Fasciola hepatica, and Strongylida order. Regarding the results for Eimeria spp., different degrees of positivity were observed, but there was no statistical association (p>0.05) with respect to the age group. Likewise, there was no statistical association (p>0.05) between the prevalence for Strongylida order and F. hepatica with respect to the age group.

Conclusion: Cattle and sheep in Colombian Northeastern Mountain were infected with helminths and coccidia. The prevalence values of GI parasites were moderate in both species warranting treatment. The presence of F. hepatica represents a risk factor to health public. Future studies are required to evaluate the parasitic dynamics throughout the year and the impact on animal production. Keywords: cattle, gastrointestinal parasites, prevalence, sheep.

Keywords: cattle, gastrointestinal parasites, prevalence, sheep.

How to cite this article: Pinilla Leon JC, Delgado NU, Florez AA (2019) Prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites in cattle and sheep in three municipalities in the Colombian Northeastern Mountain, Veterinary World, 12(1): 48-54.

Received: 17-08-2018 Accepted: 22-11-2018 Published online: 08-01-2019

Corresponding author: Juan Carlos Pinilla Leon E-mail: j.pinilla@mail.udes.edu.co

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2019.48-54

Copyright: Pinilla Leon, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.