Prevalence of Hydatid cyst infection in Goats and Sheep slaughtered at ’Yan tumaki slaughter slab in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria

Abstract

Hydatid cyst infection/hydatidosis is a cyclozoonotic helminthic disease caused by the larval stage of the dog tapeworm Echinococcus. A study to determine prevalence of hydatidosis based on detection of palpable hydatid cysts and seroprevalence of hydatidosis using Enzyme Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay (ELISA) was conducted in 284 goats and 188 sheep slaughtered at the ’Yan Tumaki slaughter slab in Zaria, Kaduna State. The overall prevalence of palpable cysts was 29.4% (30.9% in Goats and 27.1% in Sheep). Sero-prevalence of hydatid cyst infection was 51.4% (58.0% in Goats and 41.5% in Sheep). There was statistically significant difference of seroprevalence among Goats and Sheep (p<0.05). The sensitivity of ELISA in detecting hydatid cyst infection was higher in Goats (98.8%) than Sheep (92.7%) specificity was higher in Sheep (77.4%) than Goats (60.2%). The study concludes that Hydatid cyst infection is prevalent in domestic animals slaughtered in the study area.

Keywords: Hydatidosis, Palpable, Seroprevalence, hydatid cyst, ELISA, Goats, Sheep