Prevalence of lungworm infection in small ruminants in and around jimma town, southwest ethiopia

Coprological and postmortem examinations were carried out from October 2010 to March 2011 for identification of the lungworm species and determinant factors associated with lungworm infection in sheep and goats. The number of investigated animals were 420 (235 sheep and 185 goats) for coprology and 114 (66 sheep and 48 goats) for postmortem examination. Overall prevalence rates of 25.24% and 29.04% were found by coprological and postmortem examinations respectively. Higher prevalence was observed in goats (26.49%) than sheep (24.26%) but the difference was not statistically significant (•2= 0.273, p > 0.05). There was no significant difference (p > 0.05) in prevalence between sheep and goats of different sexes and body conditions and under different management systems. A higher prevalence (33.91%) was observed in 6-12 months old animals while the lowest (19.05%) was observed in less than 6 months age. There was a statistically significant difference among the three age categories (•2 = 6.675, p < 0.05). Identified species were Dictyocaulusfilaria, Muelleriuscapillaris and Protostrongylusrufescenswith prevalences of 13 (11.4%), 10 (8.77%) and 10 (8.77%) respectively. There is high prevalence of lungworm infection in the study area warns stake holders should think for the proper control and prevention of lungworms like application of repeated de-worming. For researchers interested in the diagnosis of lungworms infections, it is better if they depend more on the postmortem examination than faecal examination to accurately rule out lungworms provided economically feasible results. © IDOSI Publications, 2012.