Prevalence of Small Ruminants Hydatidosis and Its Economic Impact at Asella Municipal Abattoir

Abstract

A cross-sectional study was conducted from November, 2013 to March, 2014 to determine the prevalence and economic loss incurred due to hydatidosis in small ruminant at Asella municipal abattoir. Routine ante-mortem and post-mortem inspection was conducted on 384 randomly selected animals. Out of these, 36(9.4%) of them were found to harbor hydatid cyst (s) in one or more of their offal’s. The prevalence of hydatidosis in relation to species, sex and age were found to be 10.8% in ovine and 0% in caprine; 12.9% in female and 2.9% in male, 0% in young and 11.1% in adult animals. The difference in prevalence among species, sex, and age were statistically significant (p<0.05). In addition to that the distribution of the disease was 14.7% in poor, 9.4% in medium and 5.8% in good body conditioned animals, however, it was not statistically significant (P>0.05). Furthermore, the prevalence of disease in different origins of the animals was 14.3%, 8.4% and 7.1% in Tiyo, Digalu Tigo, and Hetosa respectively and was statistically significant. Out of the total infected animals, 7 (19.4%) were harboring hydatid cysts only in their liver and 5 (13.9%) in their lungs; however, 24(66.7%) were harboring hydatid cysts in both their liver and lungs. From 158 cysts examined for fertility status; 69(43.7%), 45 (28.5%) and 44 (27.8%) were found fertile, sterile and calcified respectively. A total of 69 fertile cysts sampled from lung and liver were tested for viability and 37(53.6%) of them were viable and 32 (46.4%) no-viable. The estimated annual financial loss due to direct organ condemnation and indirect carcass weight loss from small ruminant’s hydatiddosis in the area was estimated to be 58,755.1 ETB ($2,797.9). In conclusion, this study indicated that hydatidosis is an important disease of small ruminants that causes great economic losses due to organ condemnation and weight loss in the study area. Due to these, improvement of awareness of the communities about the transmission mechanism and economic importance of the parasite and hence reducing the incidence and economic loss incurred by the disease via regular treatment of dogs are highly recommended.

Keywords: Abattoir; Asella; Cystic echinococcosis; Economic Loss; Goat; Sheep