Dibaba Motuma Debelo, Getachew A M, Assefa Zerihun, Fanta Alemayehu, Etana Manyahilishal, Firew Seyoum, Goshu Lemessa, Burden F
College of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Donkey Sanctuary, Sidmouth, Devon, England, EX10 0NU, UK.
Parasitol Res. 2017 Jul;116(7):2009-2015. doi: 10.1007/s00436-017-5485-z. Epub 2017 May 24.
Helminths are one of the major health problems of working donkeys, often with heavy worm burden and contributing to their early demise and/or reduction in their work output. Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies were conducted to investigate the current infection prevalence and level of strongyles infection donkeys would acquire through different seasons in the mid-lowland agro-ecological zones of Ethiopia. For this purpose, faecal samples from 206 (cross-sectional study) and 102 (longitudinal study) randomly selected donkeys were directly collected from the rectum and analysed. For the longitudinal study, the 102 donkeys dewormed at the end of main rainy season, beginning of October, were monitored for the level of strongyle infection they would acquire during subsequent dry and short rainy seasons. The cross-sectional study of 206 donkey has revealed an overall infection prevalence of 89.3% (95% confidence interval (CI) = 84.4, 92.9). Donkeys in the lowland zone showed a significantly higher strongyle infection prevalence (P = 0.0126) and mean eggs per gramme of faces (EPG) (P = 0.001; 2775 EPG) compared to donkeys in the midland zone (980.8 EPG). Age, sex and body condition did not have any significant effect on either the infection prevalence or level of infection (P > 0.05). The longitudinal study has shown a significantly lower strongyle infection prevalence (P = 0.003) and level of infection donkeys acquired (P = 0.001) in the subsequent dry and short rainy seasons compared to the main rainy season following October deworming. However, these values were not significantly different between the two agro-ecological zones (P > 0.05). This study clearly showed that parasitic infections are primarily acquired during the main rainy season when pasture/herbage coverage is relatively better, and the environment is conducive for parasites survival and development. On the other hand, the finding of majority of donkeys shedding low or no eggs during the dry and short rainy seasons showed that October deworming was effective, and donkeys acquire low or no parasitic infection during the subsequent dry and short rainy seasons. Therefore, the practice of anthelmintic treatment of donkeys at the end of short rain in May may not be necessary, and October deworming once a year is sufficient.
蠕虫感染是劳作驴子面临的主要健康问题之一，通常寄生虫负荷量大，会导致驴子过早死亡和/或工作产出下降。开展了横断面研究和纵向研究，以调查埃塞俄比亚中低地农业生态区驴子当前的感染率以及不同季节感染圆线虫的情况。为此，从206头驴子（横断面研究）和102头驴子（纵向研究）的直肠直接采集粪便样本并进行分析，这些驴子均为随机选取。在纵向研究中，对102头于10月初主要雨季结束时驱虫的驴子进行监测，观察它们在随后的旱季和短雨季感染圆线虫的情况。对206头驴子的横断面研究显示，总体感染率为89.3%（95%置信区间（CI）=84.4, 92.9）。与中部地区的驴子相比，低地地区的驴子圆线虫感染率（P = 0.0126）和每克粪便中的平均虫卵数（EPG）（P = 0.001；2775 EPG）显著更高（中部地区为980.8 EPG）。年龄、性别和身体状况对感染率或感染程度均无显著影响（P > 0.05）。纵向研究表明，与10月驱虫后的主要雨季相比，驴子在随后的旱季和短雨季感染圆线虫的感染率（P = 0.003）和感染程度（P = 0.001）显著更低。然而，这两个农业生态区之间的这些数值并无显著差异（P > 0.05）。这项研究清楚地表明，寄生虫感染主要在主要雨季获得，此时牧场/草本植物覆盖率相对较高，且环境有利于寄生虫生存和发育。另一方面，大多数驴子在旱季和短雨季粪便中虫卵很少或没有虫卵这一发现表明，10月驱虫是有效的，驴子在随后的旱季和短雨季感染寄生虫很少或没有感染。因此，5月短雨结束时对驴子进行驱虫治疗可能没有必要，每年10月驱虫一次就足够了。
