Prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites in camels (Camelus dromedarius) slaughtered in Maiduguri, Nigeria.

摘要

A coprological examination was conducted on 528 camels slaughtered at Maiduguri abattoir to determine the prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites of camels in the semi-arid region of Nigeria. Faecal samples were examined by saturated sodium chloride solution floatation and sedimentation methods. Six, two, one and one genera of nematodes, cestode, trematode and coccidian were detected. Haemonchus, Oesophagostomum and Trichstrongylus sp. were most prevalent. An overall prevalence of 68.9% was recorded in all animals examined. More male (n=319 or 60.4%) than female camels (n=208 or 39.4%) were slaughtered during the period of this investigation. Among the positive samples, 219 (58.2%) had single parasite infection, while 145 (41.8%) had multiple infection. More females (82.8%) harboured helminths than male (59.8%). Most male (71.7%) camels had single infection when compared with female camels 47.4%. There was a positive correlation between prevalence of parasite eggs with age of camels: 65.2, 68.3 and 79.8% for 3-6, 7-10 and >10 years old, respectively. Nematodes accounted for 80.8% of the single infection, while trematodes and cestodes each accounted for 9.6%. Intestinal protozoa, Eimeria sp. as single infection accounted for 1.3% of the examined animals. It is concluded that the low prevalence of parasites in the study is due to the awareness of camel owners about the disease, variation in geographical condition, adoption of better control measures, greater tendency to treatment in this area and seasonal differences.