Prevalence of Echinococcus granulosus in some selected sites of Ethiopia

Abstract

This study assesses the current prevalence status of Cystic echinococcosis in cattle and sheep and echinococcosis in dogs in Assela, Makale and Debre Zeit areas of Ethiopia. Our target areas represent three different agro-ecological zones in Ethiopia. Of the cattle studied the infected were, 17(13.4%) in Assela, 20(23.3%) in Makale, and 3(10%) in Debre Zeit haboured at least one fertile Hydatid cyst. Among the sheep, 23(59%) haboured fertile cysts and no goat was found to have fertile cysts. There was a significant difference in the percentage of infected sheep with fertile cysts from the same group of cattle originating from the three study areas. The percentage fertility of the total cysts examined were 4.2%, 6.8% and 5.5% in Assela, Makale and Debre Zeit respectively. Out of this 56.5% was from Assela, 65.4%, Makale and 66.7% from Debre Zeit were viable. From the sheep examined, 43.6% had fertile cysts with viability of 90.7%. The lung was the most affected organ in both species. A total of 44 dogs, 14 from Assela, 15 from Makale, and 15 from Debre Zeit were examined for canine echinococcosis. The prevalence of the infection was 7(50%) in Assela, 3(20%) in Makale and 5(33.3%) in Debre Zeit. There was no significant difference between these prevalence rates although noticeable differences in the worm burdens among the three areas were observed.