Volume 7 • Issue 6 • 1000388 J Vet Sci Technol, an open access journal ISSN: 2157-7579 Open Access Research Article Yimer and Desie, J Vet Sci Technol 2016, 7:6 DOI: 10.4172/2157-7579.1000388 *Corresponding author: Andualem Yimer, Assistant Professor, School of Veterinary Medicine, Wollo University, PO Box 977, Dessie, Ethiopia, Tel: 0338519009; E-mail: anduyimer007@gmail.com Received September 15, 2016; Accepted September 30, 2016; Published October 05, 2016 Citation: Yimer A, Desie A (2016) Epidemiological Studies on Ovine Lungworm Species in Northern Ethiopia. J Vet Sci Technol 7: 387. doi: 10.4172/2157- 7579.1000388 Copyright: © 2016 Yimer 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 A cross sectional study was conducted from November, 2015 to April, 2016 to determine the prevalence, associated epidemiological factors and identifying the species of ovine respiratory helminthes circulating in and around Wogera district. Modifed Baermann technique was conducted to detect frst stage larvae (L1) from 386 randomly sampled sheep kept under extensive and semi intensive management systems. Out of the total 386 faecal samples examined 180 were found to harboring one or more lungworm parasites with an overall prevalence of 46.6% (180/386). Dictyocaulus flarial (D. flaria) was the dominant lungworm species with prevalence of 18.9%, followed by Mulliries capillaries (M. capillaries) 14.2%, Protostrongylus rufescens (P. rufescens) 2.3% and Mixed infection with D. flarial and M. capillaries species (11.1%). In this study, animals with poor body condition (23.1%) were highly infected with signifcant difference (P<0.05) than medium (14.8%) and good body conditions (8.8%). There was statistical signifcant difference in susceptibility between different age groups (P<0.05), the young (25.1%) being more affected than adult (22.5%) animals. Signifcant differences (P<0.05) were found among areas of different altitude with an infection rate of 29% and 17.6% at higher and medium altitude areas respectively. Sheep kept under extensive management system and semi intensive management system also showed statistically signifcant variation (P<0.05) in infection rate with different lung worm species. The overall results obtained during this investigation showed that D. flaria is the most common lungworm species in its not only high prevalence rate, but also high degree of association with occurrence of clinical respiratory signs. The result of this study indicated that lungworms in sheep are common parasites which induce heavy economic loss that needs greater attention due to its impact on sheep production of the study area. Epidemiological Studies on Ovine Lungworm Species in Northern Ethiopia Andualem Yimer* and Abebe Desie School of Veterinary Medicine, Wollo University, Dessie, Ethiopia Keywords: Epidemiological factors; Ethiopia; Lungworm; Prevalence; Wogera district Introduction Ethiopia possesses over 25 million sheep and 21 million goats [1], parallel to its diverse ecology, production systems and ethnic communities. Te CSA of Ethiopia estimated [1] that farmers in Amhara region, north eastern Ethiopia, had a total of 6.4 million sheep which are representing 25% sheep population of the country. According to FAO [2], 25% of the total annual meat production of the country comes from sheep. At the national level, sheep and goat account for about 90% of the live animal/meat and 92% of skin and hide export trade value of the country [2]. Small ruminants in Ethiopia are well adapted to local climatic and nutritional conditions and contribute greatly to the national economy however; poor animal management coupled with infectious and parasitic disease had reduced productivity of small ruminants [3]. Helminth parasites are among the causes of substantial productivity losses in ovine production of the country [4]. Respiratory diseases resulting from helminthes parasites are of a great economic concern in sheep production in the highlands of Ethiopia where sheep are important livestock units [5,6]. Te three respiratory parasites that cause a signifcant damage in small ruminant production are D. flaria, P. rufescent and M. capillarius. From those lungworms particularly D. flaria can suppress the immunity of the respiratory tract and causes death, poor weight gain or loss of body weight as well as greatly afects the potential productivity of sheep in the areas where it is prevalent [7]. Few studies have been conducted in some areas of Ethiopia indicated high prevalence of lungworm infection in sheep population and its economic importance of the infection in certain areas of the country. Prevention and control of these parasites are therefore, essential for releasing the potential of sheep production in the country. However, in order to lay down lungworm control strategy at local and regional level, detailed investigation of current epidemiological situation and infection rate of lungworm infection in sheep population in the present study area is necessary, where sheep are important assets to the local farmers. Terefore, the objectives of this study were, to determine the prevalence of lungworm infection in sheep, identifying the major lungworm species circulating in and around Wogera district and epidemiological factors afecting the prevalence. Materials and Methods Study area Te study was conducted in Wogera district starting from November 2015 to April 2016. Wogera is one of the districts of North Gondar Administrative Zone, in Amhara regional state, located at 782 km northern of the capital city, Addis Ababa, in between 37.36°E and 12.46°N longitude and at an altitude of 2900 m.a.s.l in the northern highlands of Ethiopia. Te rainfall pattern of the district is bimodal, with a short rainy season from March to May, followed by a long rainy season from June to September. It has an average annual rainfall of 700 mm and the mean annual temperature is 12.7°C [8]. Study population Indigenous sheep reared under small holder farming system of J o u r n a l o f V e t e r i n a r y S c i e n c e & T e c h n o l o g y ISSN: 2157-7579 o J r u n l a o f V e t e r i n a r y S c i e n c e & T e c h n l o g o y ISSN: 2157-7579 Journal of V Journal of Veterinary Science & eterinary Science & Technology echnology