Hydatidosis of camel (Camelus dromedarius) at Jijiga municipal abattoir, Eastern Ethiopia: prevalence, associated risk factors and financial implication.

A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2010 to May 2011 to estimate the prevalence of camel hydatidosis, associated risk factors and financial loss in Jijiga municipal abattoir, Somali Regional State, Eastern Ethiopia. Accordingly, of the total 400 inspected camel, 92 (23 %) camels and 109 organs were positive for hydatid cyst with the highest proportion recorded in lung (56 %) followed by liver (33.9 %), spleen (7.3 %) and kidneys (2.8 %). The prevalence of hydatidosis significantly varied among age categories (P < 0.05), sex (P < 0.05) and body condition score (P < 0.05) of camels. Hence, there is higher likelihood for occurrence of camel hydatidosis among the older age groups (OR 1.8, 95 % CI 1.2, 3.3), in female camels (OR 2.8, 95 % CI 1.7, 4.7) and in poor body conditioned camels (OR 4.1, 95 % CI 2.2, 7.9) than younger camels, males and camels with good body condition score, respectively. Of the total 288 examined cysts for fertility and viability, 59.7 % (172/288) were fertile while the rest 24.0 % (69/288) cysts were sterile. Of the 172 fertile cysts 69.8 % (n = 120) were viable and 30.2 % (n = 52) were non-viable. The rest 16.3 % (47/288) cysts were found dead. It was also observed that the pulmonary and hepatic cysts had fertility rate of 63.7 % (116/182) and 57.4 % (54/94), respectively. The total annual direct financial loss recorded in this study as result of organs condemnation due to hydatid cyst, was 12,147.75 Ethiopian birrs ($714.57 or $7.77/camel). If this value could be extrapolated to the infected camel population of the region, financial loss due to hydatidosis could be enormous. In conclusion, this study showed the importance of hydatidosis and the associated direct financial loss due to the condemnation of organs affected by hydatid cyst in the study area.