Prevalence of gastrointestinal helminths in sheep raised in intermediary geographical region of Paraiba state, Brazil

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) of sheep herds from twenty-three sheep farms spread in the Alto Sertão region of Paraíba state, Brazil. Sample size was obtained through a simple random sampling, which was determined from the total amount of sheep head of the microregion. It was collected 262 faecal samples directly from the rectum of the animals, conditioned in polyethylene bags previously identified and kept refrigerated until processing. Faecal egg counting was performed and cultures in pool of each farm were done separately. It was observed a prevalence of GN of 84.7% (222/262) to the evaluated sheep. Furthermore, it was noted the presence of unless one positive animal for helminths in 100.0% of sheep farms.  Among the 222 positive animals, 65.3% presented EPG<1000, 15.8% EPG among 1000-2000 and 18.9% presented EPG>2000. Recovered third stage larvae showed that the most prevalent nematode was Haemonchus sp. (79.6%), followed by Trichostrongylus sp. (13.8%), Oesophagostomum sp. (3.6%), Strongyloides sp. (2.4%) e Bunostomum sp. (0.6%). Sheep herd from the Alto Sertão region of Paraíba state presents a high prevalence of GIN.