Prevalence and Intensity of Fascioliasis in Cattle Slaughtered at Central Abattoir Gombe, Gombe State, Nigeria

Background: Fascioliasis is one of the most prevalent and economically significant parasitic illnesses of domestic animals, particularly cattle, sheep, goats, and man. It is particularly widespread in countries with heavy cattle production especially places with low interest in vector-related diseases. Therefore, the study was designed to investigate the prevalence of this parasitic disease among the cattle slaughtered in central abattoir Gombe, Gombe state of Nigeria.

Materials and Methods: A total of three hundred and eighty-four (384) faecal and gall bladder samples were collected at the Gombe municipal abattoir covering two seasons, from June to October 2022 during the rainy season and November, to May, 2023 during the dry season and examined using sedimentation techniques to detect Fasciola spp eggs, The number of eggs were counted and expressed per grams of faeces.

Results: It was observed that 72.1% were positive for fascioliasis out of the 384 slaughtered cattle examined. The prevalence of the infection based on the sex of the cattle was found to be lowest in males 34.3% and highest in Female 65.7%, although not statistically significant (p>0.05). The percentage of fascioliasis depending on the breed of the cattle also indicates high prevalence in white Fulani 69.3%, followed by Red Bororo16.7% and least in Sokoto Gudali 14.0% with an insignificant difference (p>0.05). Prevalence of fascioliasis based on the estimated age of animals was not statistically significant however; animals aged 2-4 years had the highest percentage 57.1%, followed by≥5 years29.2% and least in ≤1 year 13.7%. The prevalence was higher in dry season 72.9% than rainy season 27.1%, the analysis implied that there was a strong association between infection and season. Three categories of fascioliasis intensity were based on egg per gram of faeces (epg), 70.03% of the cattle sampled were lightly infected, with moderate infection in 20.57% and 9.38% with heavy infection.

Conclusion: The study concludes that fascioliasis among cattle in Gombe state was high causing great economic loss to the people rearing the animals. farmers/rearers should be encouraged on the importance of regular de-worming and watering of their animals using clean water for their economic benefit and health conditions of their consumer. Reduction of worm burden through chemotherapy and eradication should be encouraged.