Small ruminant hydatidosis: Occurrence and economic importance in Addis Ababa Abattoir

Abstract

A cross sectional study was conducted on small ruminants from October 2010 to March 2011 at Addis Ababa Abattoir Enterprise (AAAE) to determine the prevalence of hydatidosis, the economic losses attributed to it and to test the viability of cysts. Totally, 500 small ruminants were sampled randomly of these 399 were sheep and 101 were goats and the unbalanced sample of goats was due to low availability of the species. The overall prevalence was 8.6% whereas, in sheep and goats were 8.5% and 8.9%, respectively. The percentage of hydatid cysts in different visceral organs was observed as 48.8% and 6.98%, in lung and liver respectively. Results indicated that host species, viability test, size and volume of cysts did not have significant effect (P>0.005) on prevalence of the disease, however, age had statistically significant effect (P<0.05) on the disease prevalence. The total annual financial loss due to hydatidosis was estimated at 270,691.01Ethiopian birr (ETB) and this loss was significant. It is concluded that small ruminant hydatidosis is prevalent at AAAE and it has public health importance. It is recommended to increase veterinarians' number in the abattoir to examine lungs and livers. © IDOSI Publications, 2012.