Status of parasitism in donkeys of project and control areas in central region of Ethiopia: A comparative study

The study was undertaken with the aim of comparing the status of parasitism in donkeys in the Donkey Health and welfare Project intervention (Bereh, Ada and Boset) and Control (Yekaduda, Gerado and Meki) areas of, Central Ethiopia, in 2005. Parasites are prime problem of donkeys among other problems including wound and other infectious and noninfectious diseases. The methods applied included coproscopy, packed cell volume determination, live weight estimation and body condition scoring. A total of 648 donkeys were sampled from both control (324) and project (324) study areas. Qualitative faecal worm egg analysis revealed the prevalence of different helminthes in project and control areas to be respectively, Strongyles spp. (22.8% & 49.7%) , Oxyruis equi (4.6% & 6.5%), Anaplocephala spp. (2.2% &5.6%), Fasciola spp. (6.5% & 7.7%) and Gastrodiscus aegypticus (1.9% & 6.2%). The mean prevalence in the project and control areas was 22.9% and 29.0%, respectively. Quantitative faecal egg analysis revealed that the mean epg in the project and control areas to be 433.6 and 777.2 eggs per gram of faeces (epg), respectively. There was a significant difference (p<0.0001) in helminth egg counts between the project and control areas. The value of mean packed cell volume (PCV) in the project and control areas was 35.1% and 33.2% respectively. Body condition scoring and live weight estimation had no significant difference between the project and control areas. In conclusion, intervention by the DHWP has significantly reduced the prevalence and intensity of helminth parasitism in donkeys but this has not yet translated to improvement in body condition of the animals.