Vol. 1, Issue 2, Part A (2016)

Author(s): Shumye Fentahun, Rahmeto Abebe, Samrawit Melkamu and Mulat Asrat

Abstract: A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2011 to April 2012 to estimate the prevalence of lung worm infection in small ruminants, to identify lung worm species and the potential risk factors in and around Gondar town, North West Ethiopia. Fecal and post mortem examination were conducted in 601 (112 goats and 489sheep) and 73 (15 goats and 58 sheep), respectively. The overall prevalence of 43.76% and 46.57% was found by fecal and post mortem examination respectively. There was a perfect agreement between fecal and post mortem examination (Kappa=0.82).When the prevalence was calculated by considering different risk factors, the lung worm prevalence was significant (p<0.05) between sex with the high prevalence of female (46.77%) than males (34.87%) and different peasant association, but it was not significant (p>0.05) between species of animals, among different age groups, body condition score, month, management system and housing condition of the animal. The prevalence of lung worm was high in Dictyocaulus filaria among the three lung worm species and Protostrongylus rufescens has the lowest one, there was a significant difference (p<0.05) among them. In conclusion, this study indicated that lung worm has a high prevalence in the study area which implicate the need of control and prevention intervention.