Trematode infections in cattle in Arumeru District, Tanzania are associated with irrigation

Nzalawahe, Jahashi, Kassuku, Ayub A, Stothard, Russell ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9370-3420, Coles, Gerald C and Eisler, Mark C (2014) 'Trematode infections in cattle in Arumeru District, Tanzania are associated with irrigation'. Parasites & Vectors, Vol 7, e107.

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Abstract

Background

The relationship between the environment and infection of cattle with trematodes was studied at Arumeru District, Arusha Region, northern Tanzania. Randomly selected villages were grouped into three cattle management strata, (i) zero-grazing (ZZ) (ii) communal grazing without irrigation (ZC) and (iii) communal grazing with irrigation (ZCI).

Methods

Faecal samples were collected from 241 cattle, and processed using the Flukefinder® method. Snail intermediate hosts were collected with a snail scoop from the water bodies in the study villages and identified morphologically.

Results

The overall prevalence of F. gigantica, paramphistomes and S. bovis were 33%, 37% and 2% respectively. Prevalence for F. gigantica, paramphistomes, and S. bovis for each stratum were, zero-grazing (ZZ) (29.7%, 36.0% and 0%), communal grazing without irrigation (ZC) (6.3%, 15.0% and 3.8%) and communal grazing with irrigation (ZCI) (57.7%, 56.7% and 1.0%) respectively. The differences between strata were significant for F. gigantica (p < 0.001) and paramphistomes (p < 0.05) but not for S. bovis. Irrigation could account for the high prevalence of F. gigantica and paramphistomes in the ZCI stratum as compared to the ZZ and ZC strata. The higher prevalences of F. gigantica and paramphistomes in the ZZ stratum compared with the ZC stratum were unexpected and attributed to the practice of farmers in some ZZ stratum villages buying fodder for their cattle obtained from pastures in ZCI villages.

Conclusion

Trematode infections in cattle are prevalent in Arumeru District. Fasciola gigantica and paramphistomes are associated with grazing in areas with irrigation of crops. Zero-grazing of cattle does not necessarily prevent the risk of infection.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.parasitesandvectors.com/content/7/1/107
Subjects:	QX Parasitology > QX 20 Research (General) QX Parasitology > Helminths. Annelida > QX 353 Trematoda QX Parasitology > Helminths. Annelida > QX 355 Schistosoma QX Parasitology > Insects. Other Parasites > QX 650 Insect vectors WD Disorders of Systemic, Metabolic or Environmental Origin, etc > Disorders and Injuries of Environmental Origin > WD 600 General works
Faculty: Department:	Biological Sciences > Department of Tropical Disease Biology
Digital Object Identifer (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1186/1756-3305-7-107
Depositing User:	Lynn Roberts-Maloney
Date Deposited:	21 Apr 2015 10:40
Last Modified:	02 Dec 2019 12:52
URI:	https://archive.lstmed.ac.uk/id/eprint/5096

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