Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors of Ovine Oestrosis in Dendi District of Central Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND

Ovine oestrosis is an economically important and widely distributed parasitic disease of sheep that is caused by larvae across the world. Despite the fact that is a common parasite in Ethiopia and that there are many sheep in the study area, there is no information on the prevalence, larval burden, predilection sites, and risk factors associated with infestation in sheep in the Dendi district of West Shewa Zone, Ethiopia.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2017 to April 2018, to estimate the prevalence, risk factors, and larval burden, and identify common predilection sites for larvae. A total of 180 sheep heads were randomly selected from five purposely selected restaurants in Ginchi town, Dendi district, transported to the laboratory, opened with a hand saw, and visually examined for infestations. The larvae were collected from positive sheep heads and counted. The sites where the larvae were obtained were recorded. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 software.

RESULTS

Of the total of 180 examined sheep heads, 104 (57.8%) were infested with larvae of . In the study, a statistically significant difference (p > 0.05) was not observed in the prevalence of in relation to all considered risk factors such as sex, age, and origin of sheep. From 104 infested sheep, a total of 664 larvae were detected in different parts of sheep heads. The mean larval intensity per infected animal with was 6.38. In this study, the minimum and maximum numbers of larvae recovered were 1 and 26, respectively. The nasal cavity, nasal sinus and frontal sinus were the predilection sites of larvae identified in this study.

CONCLUSION

Oestrosis is an important and common parasitic disease of sheep in the study area.