Helminth fauna of bovines from the Central-Western region, Minas Gerais State, Brazil

Abstract

Seventy-six naturally infected bovines, males and females of mixed breed, aged 8 to 12 months-old, were necropsied. The results of necropsy revealed the presence of 9 helminth genera and 16 species, with the following prevalence and mean infection intensity: Haemonchus placei (100.0%; 3895.5); Haemonchus similis (29.0%; 159.6); Cooperia punctata (100.0%; 5595.0); Cooperia spatulata (32.9%; 137.8); Cooperia pectinata (34.2%; 1010.5); Trichostrongylus axei (69.7%; 239.2); Trichostrongylus colubriformis (10.5%; 10.8); Trichostrongylus longyspicularis (2.6%; 0.5); Ostertagia ostertagi (2.6%; 3.1); Ostertagia lyrata (2.6%; 1.5); Ostertagia trifurcata (1.3%; 0.3); Oesophagostomum radiatum (94.7%; 470.9); Trichuris discolor (47.4%; 32.5); Strongyloides papillosus (1.3%; 0.1); Capillaria bovis (9.2%; 1.0) and Bunostomum phlebotomum (2.6%; 0.3). The mean parasitic load was 11,558.5 helminths per bovine. Of the 76 necropsied bovine, 92.1% were infected by 3 to 7 helminth species. Only 7.9% of hosts were parasitized by 8 different helminth species. This study includes the first report of the species Ostertagia lyrata and Ostertagia trifurcata in Minas Gerais state. It should be emphasized that while identifying the helminths collected during necropsy in the present work, observation revealed that an inversion in the mean parasitic intensity is occurring, showing diminishing numbers of Cooperia and an increase in Haemonchus compared to the values reported in the literature.