Investigation of Gastrointestinal Helminths in Slaughtered Donkeys at Huacheng International Abattoir, Dodoma, Tanzania

Abstract

In developing countries including Tanzania, the use of draught animal power like donkeys is constrained by inadequate and limited knowledge about their health problems and welfare. A cross-sectional study was conducted from June 2016 to August 2017 on 400 slaughtered donkeys to establish prevalence of gastrointestinal helminth at Huacheng international abattoir, Dodoma. A total of 1200 gastrointestinal content samples were collected from rectum, caecum and small intestine and examined by using floatation, sedimentation, MacMaster counting techniques for helminths eggs recovery and adult helminths. Data were summarized using descriptive statistics and analyzed by Epi-Info version 7.2.6.0. The prevalence of helminth infection was 88.4% and all infected donkeys had nematodes, 55% had trematodes and 0.5% were infected with cestodes. The common types of helminths infections were Strongyle, Paramphistomum, Nematodirus and Parascaris. Moniezia were the least detected. Up to 60.3% of the donkeys were infected with both nematodes and trematodes. Most donkeys had severe levels of Strongyle infection with mean faecal egg count of 1885 ± 1228 per gram. Different parts of GIT influenced helminth colonization and the difference in infection rates was statistically significant p<0.0001) with rectum (88.4%) having highest helminths burden compared to small intestine (43.3%) and caecum (42.9%). Donkeys’ husbandry practices need improvement along with routine veterinary services including routine deworming.