School of Veterinary Medicine, Wollega University, Nekemte, Ethiopia.
Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Veterinary Public Health, College of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture, Addis Ababa University, Bishoftu, Ethiopia.
Sci Rep. 2024 Oct 25;14(1):25379. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-74112-1.
Due to differences in their feeding behavior, sheep and goats are often assumed to respond differently to helminth infections. The present study compared Haemonchus contortus infection profile between sheep and goats under the same experimental setting. Experimental infection was conducted using a randomized block design in four groups of intact sheep (InfSH and ConSH) and goats (InfG, and ConG). Groups InfSH and InfG (N = 7 each) received 10,000L3 of H. contortus whereas the control groups ConSH and ConG (N = 7 each) remained uninfected. Faecal egg counts and PCV were measured from Day 0 to day 56 post infection (PI). On day 56 PI, animals were humanely slaughtered and abomasal contents were recovered to measure worm burden, worm length and in utero egg count. The findings show that: (1) Haemonchus infected animals showed an increase in FEC starting from day 21 PI, (2) progressive reduction in PCV was registered from day 7 PI and continued to the end of the experiment while this remained at pre-infection levels in control groups, (3) FEC was much higher (P < 0.001) and PCV was significantly lower (P < 0.05) in infected goats than in infected sheep, (4) at necropsy, total worm burden with worm establishment rates of 63% and 28.87% were registered respectively for infected goats and sheep with significant difference (P < 0.05), (5) Female worms were significantly longer (P < 0.05) in InfG (22.8(± 1.2) compared to InfSH (20.5 ± 0.67 mm) while (6) Mean worm fecundity was 974.8 ± 239.4 and 1162.5 ± 89.4 respectively for groups InfSH and InfG with no significant difference (P = 0.07), and (7) Parasite traits such as worm burden, FEC and female worm length were well correlated in sheep whereas few such patterns were observed in goats. In conclusion, under the same experimental infection, Arsi-Bale goats are more susceptible to H. contortus infection than Arsi-Bale sheep and hence deserve special attention when they are forced to live on grazing rather than browsing.
由于摄食行为的不同，人们通常认为绵羊和山羊对蠕虫感染的反应不同。本研究在相同的实验条件下比较了绵羊和山羊感染捻转血矛线虫的情况。实验感染采用完全随机分组设计，分为 4 组：完整绵羊组（InfSH 和 ConSH）和完整山羊组（InfG 和 ConG）。InfSH 和 InfG 组（每组 7 只）感染 10000 条捻转血矛线虫 L3，而对照组 ConSH 和 ConG 组（每组 7 只）未感染。从感染后第 0 天到第 56 天测量粪便卵计数和 PCV。在第 56 天 PI 时，动物被安乐死，回收皱胃内容物以测量蠕虫负荷、蠕虫长度和子宫内卵计数。研究结果表明：（1）感染捻转血矛线虫的动物从第 21 天开始粪便卵计数增加；（2）从第 7 天开始 PCV 逐渐下降，并持续到实验结束，而对照组的 PCV 保持在感染前水平；（3）感染山羊的粪便卵计数（P<0.001）和 PCV（P<0.05）均显著高于感染绵羊；（4）剖检时，感染山羊和绵羊的总蠕虫负荷分别为 63%和 28.87%，差异显著（P<0.05）；（5）雌性蠕虫明显更长（P<0.05），感染山羊（22.8（±1.2）毫米）比感染绵羊（20.5（±0.67）毫米）；（6）感染绵羊和山羊的平均蠕虫产卵量分别为 974.8（±239.4）和 1162.5（±89.4），差异无统计学意义（P=0.07）；（7）绵羊的蠕虫负荷、粪便卵计数和雌性蠕虫长度等寄生虫特征相关性较好，而山羊则很少出现这种模式。总之，在相同的实验感染下，Arsi-Bale 山羊比 Arsi-Bale 绵羊更容易感染捻转血矛线虫，因此当它们被迫放牧而不是放牧时，应特别注意。
