• West Indian Veterinary Journal, 9 (1) July 2009 22 Prevalence of intestnal parasites in pigs in Grenada West Indian Veterinary Journal 2009, 9 (1) 22-27 Prevalence of intestnal parasites in pigs in Grenada, West Indies Keshaw P Tiwari, Alfred Chikweto, Guillaume Belot 1 , Guillaume Vanpee 1 , Claude Deallie, Graeme Straton, Ravindra N Sharma* Pathobiology Academic Program, School of Veterinary Medicine, St. George’s University, Grenada, West Indies 1 DVM student, Ecole Natonal Veterinary School. Toulouse, France. *Corresponding author: Tel: 1-473-444-4175 ext 3335. Email: rsharma@sgu.edu Abstract In order to estmate the prevalence of intestnal parasites in pigs of Grenada, a cross-sectonal study was undertaken. During July 2009, coprological examinaton was carried out on 221 pigs from 16 farms. The overall prevalence of intestnal parasites was 68.78% (95% CI, 62.67 to 74.89%). Four types of parasites were identfed including Oesophagostomum spp., Strongyloides spp. Trichuris suis and coccidia. Mixed infectons were common on some farms, comprising 6/10 (60.0%) in small herds and 5/6 (83.3%) in large herds. There was no signifcant diference between infecton rates on larger and smaller pig farms (p > 0.05). There was also no associaton between infecton rate and age group on either smaller farms (p = 0.12) or larger farms (p = 0.06). There was no evidence of infecton with Ascaris suum. The results of this study provide baseline informaton about intestnal parasites of pigs and preventve methods currently in use in Grenada. Key words: Prevalence, intestnal parasites, pigs, Grenada Original article Introducton D uring the last 25 years, the pig industry in Grenada has suffered major setbacks including closure of major pig processing companies and destruction of major farms by hurricane Ivan in 2004. Consequently, the pig industry is relatively under-developed, comprising mainly small scale producers 1 . In the tropical and sub-tropical areas, parasitic infections in pigs are estimated to be second to African swine fever 2 . Infection with parasites is associated with signifcant economic losses evidenced by decreased litter size, poor growth rate, reduced weight gain, organ condemnation at slaughter and death 3 . Prevalence studies on intestinal parasites affecting pigs have been undertaken worldwide. In a study in Eastern Ghana with a prevalence of 91%, eggs of Metastrongylus salmi (19.3%); Physocephalus sexlutus (17.4%), Oesophagostomum spp. (60.6%), Trichuris suis (4.6%), Ascaris suum (12.7%); Ascarlops strongylina (8.1%); Brachylaemus suis (1.9%), Paragonimus suis (0.8%); Globecephalus urosubulutus (2.7%) and Schistosoma suis (0.4%) were identifed. Among the coccidian parasites Eimeria spp. were more prevalent than Isospora suis 2 . In Botswana, 82% of the pigs were infected with Ascaris suum (54.6%), Trichostrongylus spp. (20.4%) and Trichuris suis (6.8%) 3 . In the Guadong province of China, Weng et al. 4 reported Trichuris suis (5.2%), Ascaris suum (2.5%), Oesophagostomum spp (24.9%) and coccidian spp (Eimeria spp and /or Isospora suis) (47.2% ). In Western Australia there was evidence of nematodes in 79% of piggeries and Oesophagostomum spp. was the most prevalent nematode with Ascaris suum found mostly in growing pigs 5 . In an abattoir survey of 137 pigs in Belize, Oesophagostomum spp., Hyostrongylus rubidus, Physocephalus sexalutus, Globocephalus spp., Trichostrongylus colubriformis, Ascalops strongylina, Ascaris suum, Macracanthrynchus hirudinaceus, Strongyloides ransomi and Trichuris suis were identifed with Oesphagostomum spp. being the most prevalent 6 . In Trinidad and Tobago, Adesiyun et al. 7 found no evidence of nematode parasites in pigs.To our knowledge, there is no published information detailing prevalence of helminth parasites in pigs in Grenada. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of intestinal parasites in pigs by examination of faecal samples.