Volume 3 • Issue 5 • 1000144 J Bacteriol Parasitol ISSN:2155-9597 JBP an open access journal Research Article Open Access Tehrani et al., J Bacteriol Parasitol 2012, 3:5 DOI: 10.4172/2155-9597.1000144 Keywords: Abomasal; Haemonchus; Sheep; Urmia; Statistical Introduction Abomasum is one of the most important sites for living bursate nematodes belonging to Trichostrongylidae family in small ruminants, because it is the site location for 3 pathogen species of GI nematodes e.g., Haemonchus spp., Teladorsagia spp., Ostertagia spp.and Trichostrongylus spp., meanwhile it was shown that gastrointestinal nematodes could be harmful to the health mortalities, reduce weight gain and other production losses [1,2]. Small ruminants play an important role in maintaining family stability by providing meat, milk, skin and wool, earn cash income and play traditional social and religious roles. Health disorders in all classes of small ruminants represent the major problems and largely on the economics of sheep and goat production [3]. e gastrointestinal nematode, Haemonchus contortus (Barber’s pole worm), is a major pathogen of ovine throughout the temperate and tropical regions of the world and is a significant cause of production losses. Debilitating infection with this parasite is most commonly seen in young animals while resistance to infection develops, with exposure, in older ovine [4]. Female worms are 18-30 mm long and are easily recognized by the ‘barbers pole’ appearance of the white ovaries and uteri twisting for the length of the worm around a red blood-filled intestine and males are 10-20 mm long and uniformly reddish-brown [5]. is parasite is a gastrointestinal nematode of special importance in associated with to small ruminant production in warm climates [6] and is a blood feeding nematode which parasitises the abomasum and presents a serious constraint to ovine production in areas with predominantly summer rainfall [7]. e fourth larval (L4) and adult stages of this worm suck blood and in addition, move and leave wounds that hemorrhage from the abomasal wall of the host. A blood sucking H.contortus can suck about 0.05 ml blood per day in ovine [8]. H.contortus is of primary concern since it is a highly pathogenic blood-feeder helminth that causes anaemia and reduced productivity and can lead to death in infected animals [9] and the diagnosis of Haemonchosis is usually based upon clinical signs and fecal examinations. Eggs are found in feces when the damage has already been done. So ELISA enables detection of sub clinical infection [10]. Fayza Ahmed Omer et al. [11] showed that histopathological changes of the abomasum were of severe mucosal and submucosal haemorrhages. Epithelial cells indicated degeneration and other revealed hypertrophy. Gastric glands domonstrated some changes and contained, mononuclear cells dominated with eosinophils. Terefe et al. [12] observed that sheep infected with Oestrus ovis and H. contortus in a natural way eliminated smaller quantities of eggs in feces than those infected with only H. contortus. Previous infection with O. ovis in the nasal cavity also reduces the development and fertility of H. contortus in the abomasum. is reduction is associated with eosinophilia, an increase in abomasal eosinophils and globular leukocytes, as well as an inflammatory response in the abomasal mucosa [12,13]. Among the diseases that impose the survival and productivity of ovine and goats, gastrointestinal nematode infection ranks highest on a global index, with Barber’s pole worm being of overwhelming importance [14]. e objective of this study was to histopathological study of Haemonchus contortus in Herrik sheep abomasums. *Corresponding author: Dr. Javad javanbakht, Department of Pathology, Faculty of veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran, Tel: +989372512581; Email: javadjavanbakht@ut.ac.ir Received May 02, 2012; Accepted June 13, 2012; Published June 19, 2012 Citation: Tehrani A, Javanbakht J, Jani M, Sasani F, Solati A, et al. (2012) Histopathological Study of Haemonchus contortus in Herrik Sheep Abomasum. J Bacteriol Parasitol 3:144. doi:10.4172/2155-9597.1000144 Copyright: © 2012 Tehrani A, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract Hemonchosis is a very common disease in small ruminants caused by Haemonchus contortus, a blood sucking parasite causing anaemia that may be fatal particularly to young animals. The present study was conducted to determine the prevalence of Haemonchus contortus in slaughtered sheep’s at Urmia abattoir located in the North West of Iran. A total of 2421animals were slaughtered and examined from July 2010 to July 2011 in Urmia abattoir. In case of sheep, 225 out of 2421 were positive and prevalence of Haemonchus contortus infestation was 9.3%. Sex wise prevalence of Haemonchus contortus in sheep was 33.08% (76/229) in male and 66.22% (149/225) in female. The females indicated significantly (P<0.05) higher prevalence (66.22%) as compared to males (33.08%). The highest prevalence was recorded in the spring (April) and the lowest was in summer (July), respectively. On microscopic examination, infiltration of mononuclear cells and eosinophils in gastric glands, periglandular hyperemia and hemorrhage, mucous gland hyperplasia, connective tissue proliferation and necrosis was observed. Also, in mixed abomasal infection with Haemonchus and Ostertagia species, mucosal hyperplasia and increased mucous glands and sometimes cystic glands were seen. Statistical analysis using SPSS software, and chi-square test, demonstrated a non-significant difference between ages and abomasal pH values of infected and healthy sheep (p<0.05). But the difference between sexes, seasons and abomasal lesions was significant (p>0.05). Histopathological Study of Haemonchus contortus in Herrik Sheep Abomasum Aliasghar Tehrani 1 , Javad Javanbakht 2 *, Meysam Jani 3 , Farhang Sasani 2 , Amirali Solati 4 , Mojtaba Rajabian 3 , Farshid Khadivar 3 , Hamid Akbari 5 and Mohammadreza Mohammadian 3 1 Department of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Urmia, Urmia, Iran 2 Department of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran 3 Graduate Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran 4 Department of Veterinary Medicine, Islamic Azad University, Saveh branch, Saveh, Iran 5 Department of Clinical Science, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Urmia, Urmia, Iran J o u r n a l o f B a c t e r i o l o g y & P a r a s i t o l o g y ISSN: 2155-9597 Journal of Bacteriology and Parasitology