Md. Rafiqul Islam¹, Md. Golam Yasin¹, Md. Abdullah Al Noman², Nurjahan Begum¹, MM Hussain Mondal¹

 ¹Department of Parasitology, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202, Bangladesh.
²Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Khulshi, Chittagong, Bangladesh

ABSTRACT

A survey on gastrointestinal parasitic infections in cattle was conducted at Vangura upazila, Pabna district, Bangladesh during the period from July to November, 2012 using coproscopy. The effects of age and sex on the prevalence of parasitic infections were determined. Among 170 fecal samples examined, 133 (78.24%) were found positive for parasitic infections and mean egg per gram of feces (EPG) was 403.01±31.82. The parasites identified on fecal examinations were snail borne trematodes namely, Fasciola gigantica (4.11%), amphistomes (40%), Schistosoma spp. (5%), nematodes namely, Haemonchus sp. (3.52%), Strongyles (1.17%), Strongyloides (1.17%), Trichuris sp. (1.76%), Dictyocaulus sp. (0.58%) and cestodes Moniezia spp. (3.52%), and protozoal infections namely, Balantidium coli (41.76%) and Eimeria spp. (4.11%). Age between calf and adult cattle had significant (p<0.05) influence on the infections with the gastro-intestinal parasites, whereas the sex of the cattle had no significant effect. Lower infection with Moniezia spp. (3.33%) was found in young cattle than in the adults (4.08%). Higher rate of infections was also recorded in females (78.83%) than in the males (75.76%). However, the present study demonstrated that age and sex of cattle had significant influence on the prevalence of gastrointestinal parasitic infection.

Key words: gastrointestinal parasite, cattle, Pabna, Bangladesh

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E-mail address: mrislam85@gmail.com (MR Islam)                                                                                          Full Text (PDF)