Prevalence of liver fluke infections and other gastrointestinal tract parasites in slaughtered cattle in Douala, Cameroon

Abstract

A survey of the prevalence of liver fluke and other gastrointestinal parasites in cattle at the Douala slaughter house was conducted between March and September 2011. Three hundred and twenty (320) cattle consisting of 100 females and 220 males were examined post-mortem. Liver, bile and stool samples were collected to determine the prevalence and intensity of liver flukes and other intestinal parasites of these  ruminants. 10mls of bile collected from each cattle were concentrated by centrifugation at 3000rpm for two minutes, and the sediment examined under the microscope. Also, 0.2g of faecal material were collected, sieved and analyzed using the formol ether concentration technique. Results obtained showed that liver flukes had a general prevalence of 81.3% distributed as follows: 12.2% of the cattle were infected with Fasciola Sp only, 25.6 % with Dicrocoelium dendriticum only, and 43.4% with Fasciola sp and D. dendriticum. It was equally observed that more males 179 (81.4%) were infected than females 72 (72.0%), although the difference was not statistically significant. Males had a higher intensity of infection (300 epd and 410 epd) than females (265 epd and 365 epd) with Dicrocoelium and mixed infections respectively and these differences were statistically significant at p.0.035 and 0.043. From the stool analysis, 73.8% of the animals were infected with Trichostrongylus sp having the highest prevalence of 47.3%,(151) followed by Haemonchus sp, 37.2% (119) while the least prevalence was observed in Cooperia sp 7.5 (24). Seven livers were totally condemned (declared unfit for human  consumption ) due to heavy infections. Educating the Fulani herdsmen on better field management, drug administration, and subsidizing the supply of better anthelminthic drugs will lead to improved cattle production and animal proteins.

Keywords: Liverflukes, Gastrointestinal parasites, Slaughter house, cattle, Prevalence, Intensity, Douala, Cameroon