Prevalence and seasonal patterns of coccidial infections in goats in two ecoclimatic areas in Morogoro, Tanzania L.J.M. Kusiluka a,* , D.M. Kambarage a , L.J.S. Harrison b , C.J. Daborn b , R.W. Matthewman c a Department of Veterinary Medicine and Public Health, P.O. Box 3021, Morogoro, Tanzania b Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine, Easter Bush, Roslin Midlothian, Scotland EH25 9RG, UK c Natural Resources Institute, Central Avenue, Chatham Maritime, Chatham, Kent ME4 4TB, UK Accepted 27 December 1997 Abstract A ®eld study was conducted between November 1993 and December 1994 to determine monthly prevalences and oocyst outputs in tethered, stall-fed and herded goats in tropical highland (Mgeta) and semi-arid (Mlali) areas of Morogoro, Tanzania. The prevalences in the tropical highland area were 78.2 and 76.5% in tethered indigenous and stall-fed crossbred animals, respectively. In the semi-arid area, the prevalences were 76.5% in seasonally-tethered indigenous goats and 76.9% for herded indigenous animals. The prevalence (94.7%) in a herd of ToggenburgSmall East African crossbred animals in the semi-arid area was signi®cantly higher than those of other herds (P<0.05). Kids in the tropical highland area had a signi®cantly higher prevalence of coccidiosis than adults (P<0.001), whereas in the semi-arid zone there was no age-related differences in the prevalence of infection. There was no signi®cant seasonal variation in the prevalence of infection in animals in all the management systems. Median oocyst counts were highest in crossbred goats in the semi-arid area, followed by stall-fed crossbred animals in the tropical highland area compared to indigenous ones in the two areas (P<0.001). In all management systems, kids had signi®cantly higher oocyst counts than adults (P<0.05). Higher median oocyst counts were observed during the dry short rainy seasons compared to other seasons (P<0.01). The predominant species of Eimeria were E. arloingi (91.7%), E. alijevi (80.3%), E. ninakohlyakimovae (71.4%), and E. christenseni (45.2%). Others were E. caprovina (27.6%), E. hirci (27.2%), E. pallida (8.8%), E. jolchijevi (6.9%) and E. aspheronica (5.2%). # 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Goats; Coccidiosis; Management systems 1. Introduction Coccidiosis is one of the most economically impor- tant diseases of sheep and goats worldwide (Foreyt, 1990) including sub-Saharan Africa where outbreaks of the disease have been accompanied with heavy mortalities (Opoku-Pare and Chineme, 1979; Ver- cruysse, 1982; Chhabra and Pandey, 1991, 1992; Agyemang et al., 1991; Mushi et al., 1993; Anene et al., 1994). The disease is more serious in 4±6-month old kids and lambs and also when animals of any age Small Ruminant Research 30 (1998) 85±91 *Corresponding author. Tel.: 255 56 4542/4647; fax: 255 56 3177/4079. 0921-4488/98/$ ± see front matter # 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII S0921-4488(98)00092-3