Study on prevalence and risk factors of calf coccidiosis in and around Jimma town, Southwest Ethiopia
Main Article Content
Abstract
Coccidiosis is a protozoan disease caused by Eimeria species and seen in animals up totwo years old, and is particularly common in calves between three weeks and six monthsof age. Twelve Eimeria species have been identified in the feces of cattle worldwide fromwhich only three (E. zuernii, E. bovis, and E. auburnensis) are associated with clinicaldiseases which is more common during the wet season of the year. A cross-sectionalstudy was conducted from November 2013 to March 2014 to determine the prevalenceand assess the risk factors of calf coccidiosis in and around Jimma town. Fecal sampleswere collected from a total of 384 calves and were examined for the oocysts of Eimeria byfloatation technique using saturated sodium chloride solution. Age, sex, breed, bodycondition, and hygienic status of the calves, farming system and medical history werehypothetical risk factors which were assessed. From 384 calves, 119 (31.0% 95% CI: 26.4,35.6) were positive for Eimeria oocysts. There was strong statistical significant difference(P=0.000) in the occurrence of coccidian oocyst shedding between poor and good bodyconditioned calves. However, the difference in prevalence was not statisticallysignificant between the different age, sex, breed, medical history and hygienic status ofthe calves. The present study showed that calves’ coccidiosis was one of the importantdisease in the study area and warrants appropriate disease prevention and controlmeasures and further molecular epidemiological investigations to determine thecirculating Eimeria species and other pathogen risk factors for good preventive strategydevelopment.