Epidemiology of gastrointestinal parasitism in cattle in Sikkim

Abstract

An epidemiological study was conducted on gastrointestinal parasitic infection in cattle of different agroclimatic zones of Sikkim during April 2001 to March 2010. Out of 13,248 faecal sample examined, 3,641 (27.48%) were found to be positive for different parasitic infection with a mean number of eggs per gram of faeces (epg), i.e. 86.037. Highest prevalence of infestation was found in the month of July (42.79%). The rate of infestation was found to be more in subtropical and high humid zone (32.52%) followed by temperate humid (22.19%) and sub-alpine low humid zone (9.59%). Overall prevalence of different parasites were strongyles (21.65%), Strongyloides (10.58%), Coccidian oocyst (5.91%), Toxocara (5.07%), Moniezia (4.47%) and Trichuris spp (1.10%). Seasonal occurrence of intestinal nematodiasis was found to be highest during summer (38.22%) and autumn (29.28%) and comparatively lower during spring (26.35%) and winter (18.99%). On coproculture of positive samples, Haemonchus,, Oesophagostomum and Bunostomum spp. larvae were identified.