Prevalence of Haemonchus contortus infection in sheep slaughtered at Jimma town municipal abattoir, Ethiopia.

Haemonchus contortus is a parasite of major economic importance of most sheep-rearing areas of the world. A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2015 to March 2016 with objectives of determining the prevalence and associated risk factors of Haemonchus contortus infection in sheep slaughtered at Jimma town municipal abattoir, Ethiopia. Of the total 7000 sheep slaughtered during the study time period, 384 sheep were randomly selected and examined for parasites. The overall prevalence of Haemonchus contortus infection was 264 (68.75%). Infection rate of poor body condition animals was significantly (P = 0.000) higher than good body conditioned animals. The mean packed cell volume (PCV) values (%) of parasitemic and aparasitemic sheep were 23.73 ± 3.7 SD and 37.66 ± 4.736 SD, respectively. The prevalence in adult sheep (> 1 year) was insignificantly (P = 0.653) higher than that of young sheep (≤ 1 year). The highest prevalence was recorded in sheep that originated from Seka district (73.3%) and the lowest in Kersa district (63.4%) with non-significant variation (P = 0.691). The highest monthly mean worm burdens and prevalence of Haemonchus contortus infection were recorded in November and lowest in March. The current study revealed that Haemonchus contortus infection is an important and common parasitic disease and requires special attention to its control.