ESTIMATING PREVALENCE AND ASSOCIATED RISK FACTORS OF GASTROINTESTINAL NEMATODES AND EVALUATING EFFICACY OF COMMONLY USED ANTHELMENTICS IN SMALL RUMINANTS IN DEDER DISTRICT OF EASTERN HARARGHE ZONE, OROMIA REGIONAL STATE, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Gastrointestinal nematode parasites infections are major health problems affecting the productivity, reproductive performance and wellbeing of small ruminants in Ethiopia. Thus, acquiring knowledge on their occurrence, burden, distribution, resistance to chemotherapies and so on are helpful in designing effective control strategies. Therefore, a cross-sectional study and controlled field trials were carried out from December 2019 to June 2020 in Deder district, with the objectives of estimating the prevalence and identifying the risk factors of gastrointestinal nematodes and evaluating anthelmintic efficacy in small ruminants. A total of 324 faecal samples were collected and fecal flotation technique were used for qualitative and Mc Master technique for quantitatifying number of egg. Of 227 goat and 97 sheep examined 65.4% (212) were found infected with different types of gastrointestinal nematodes. The prevalence in sheep were 75.26% while that of goat were 61.23%. This study revealed the dominant genera to be strongyles 78.7% followed by Trichuris 10.8%, and mixed nematode infection 10.3%. Fecal samples that were positive by qualitative parasitological techniques were subjected to EPG count using McMaster egg counting technique. Species,sex age ,husbandery system, source of drinking water and deworming history of the animal were considered as possible risk factors associated with nematode infection with univariate and multivariate analysis and the result showed all the four risk factors were statistically significant (p<0.05). Of 80 goats examined, 60 of them having epg > 150 were included in the efficacy trials. The faecal egg count reduction test against albendazole, Tetraclozash and ivermectin indicated that FECRT% (97.14%,93.3 and 96.2% ) respectively for albendazole, tetraclozan, and ivermectin, which indicate that from the tested three drugs albendazole and ivermectin are effective in removing the parasites, while tetraclozan is considered as suspect of developing resistance or reduced efficacy.In conclusion, this study revealed that GIT nematodes are of the major helminthosis of sheep and goat in deder district. The high prevalence of GIT nematode of small ruminant recorded is indicative of the abundance and importance of the disease in the study area. rotational grazing of pasture and strategic deworming with albendazole and ivermectin were recommended