Prevalence of Lungworm Infection in Sheep Around Bahir-Dar Town, Northern Ethiopia

A cross-sectional study was carried out from October 2009 to May 2010 in and around Bahir-Dar town with the objective of identifying the species of lungworm in sheep and assessing the associated risk factors. The number of investigated animals was 384 sheep for coprology and 100 for postmortem examination. Overall prevalence rates of 17.5% and 60% found by coprology and postmortem examination, respectively. The study revealed three species of sheep lungworms in the study area: Dictyocaulus filaria (D. filaria) (76.1%), Muellerius capillaris (M. Capillaris) (61.2%) and Protostrongylus rufescens (P. rufescens). (11.9%). D. filaria was the predominant species recovered from 76.1% of the positive animals. The prevalence of M. capillaris and P. rufescens was significantly (P 0.05). There was no significant (P >0.05) difference in the prevalence of lugworm infection between male and female animals. Lungworm infection was significantly (P <0.05) associated with the management system of sheep in the area, which is higher in traditional management system. In conclusion, this study showed that lungworm was an important parasite in sheep in the study area and traditional management system was a risk factor for its infection.