Prevalence and Risk Factors of Ovine Hydatidosis in Elgeniena, West Darfur State, Sudan

Abstract

An abattoir survey was conducted on 192 sheep slaughtered at Al-Jamarek abattoir and Alriad abattoir, West Darfur State, Sudan, during the period September to December 2014. The objective of the survey was to estimate the prevalence of hydatid cysts in sheep and to investigate the risk factors associated with the disease. Routine meat inspection procedures were employed to detect the presence of hydatid cysts in visceral organs (liver, lung, heart and peritoneum). The sheep selected for this study originated from six localities: Elgeniena, Kerenik, Serba, Jabal Moon, Baida, and Foro Baranga. The overall prevalence was 8.9%. The prevalence of hydatid cysts infection according to abattoir was 10% in Alriad abattoir and 7.6% in Aljamarek abattoir. The prevalence of hydatid cysts infection according to age of sheep was 4.25% in young animals and 12.1% in old animals. Regarding distribution by sex, the prevalence of hydatid cysts was 8.7% in male and 9.3% in female sheep. Regarding distribution by breed, the prevalence of hydatidosis was 12.5% in Hamary breed and 8.1 in Sahrawi breed. Regarding distribution by body condition, the prevalence of hydatidosis was 10.4% in sheep with good body condition and ix 2.6% in sheep with poor body condition. The distribution of the hydatid cysts according to the area (source) of sheep was (15%) in Elgeniena, (13.5%) in Foro Baranga, (9.3%) in Baida, (8.5%) in Kereinik, (2.8%) in Serba and (0.0%) in Jabal Moon. Regarding distribution by presence of concurrent abnormality, the prevalence of hydatidosis was 33.3% in anemic sheep, 11.8% in sheep visceral hemorrhages and 8.1% in animals that had no concurrent abnormality. The results showed that age is significantly associated with hydatidosis (p- value =0.02). The current study showed that the liver was the most infected organ (14 cysts), while two cysts were found in both liver and lungs, and one cyst was found in the lung. No cyst was found in the thigh, heart or peritoneum. Microscopic examination of the 17 cysts (found in 17 affected animals) revealed that, 9 cysts were sterile, 5 cysts were fertile and 3cysts were calcified. x