Role of intrinsic and extrinsic epidemiological factors on strongylosis in horses.

Abstract

A total of 133 (65.51%) faecal samples were found positive for various helminths and m ostfrequentlystrongyle infections were diagnosed with an infection rate of 58.5% (117/200)in a year long study to asses various epidemiological factors inf luencing the gastro -intestinal nematodes of horses .Significantdifference in the prevalence of various gastrointestinal helminths was detected in the study population (p d 0.05).Species identified included: Parascaris equorum(P. equorum),Dictyocalus a rnifieldi(D. arnifieldi ),Anoplocephlaspecies,Gastrodiscus aegypticus (G.aegypticus),Strongyloides westeri (S. westeri),Trichstrongylus axei (T. axei),Strongylus vulgaris (S. vulgaris), Strongylus edentatus (S. edentatus),Strongylus equinus(S. equinus)andTrichonemaspp.Prevalence of strongylosis was not affected by age (p = 0.1). H ighereggs per gram of faeces (epg) wererecorded inyoung horse(d 3 year old horses) as compared witholderhorses(pd 0.001).Similarlyno difference in the prevalence of strongyle infections as influenced by sex could be detected (p = 0.7) and excretion of eggs was also not affected by the sex of the animals (p = 0. 06). Seasonhas no impact on the prevalence of strongyle infections (p = 0. 07) but shedding intensity of strongyle eggs is affected by season (p d 0.001) and significantly higher egg excretion was recorded in spring and summer.