Absence of hypobiosis in abomasal nematodes of sheep and goats in Egypt.

A total of 96 abomasa from sheep and goats at the Zagazig abattoir, Sharkia Province, Egypt, were examined, during the four climatic seasons from April 1986 to March 1987, for the presence of adult and larval nematodes. Adults of Trichostrongylus axei were most numerous followed by adult Haemonchus contortus. Adult Ostertagia sp. and Parabronema skrjabini were less prevalent. There was no significant difference between sheep and goats in infection rates, but worm burdens of the nematodes other than Ostertagia sp. were significantly higher (P less than 0.05) in sheep than in goats. The animals were uniformly infected with these parasites throughout the year as there were no significant differences in the incidence or intensity of infections between the four seasons. The numbers of larvae recovered from the wall of the abomasa were small in relation to the total adult worm population throughout the year with a slight increase during the summer. Hypobiosis, therefore, seems not to be important in the life cycle of abomasal nematodes of sheep and goats in Sharkia Province, Egypt.