Prevalence of bovine fasciolosis in and around Inchini town, West Showa Zone, Adaa Bega Woreda, Centeral Ethiopia

The study was conducted from November, 2008 to March, 2009 in six kebeles of Ada’a Berga Woreda, West Showa Zone, in and around Inchini town and indicated that bovine fasciolosis is widely spread with high prevalence, inducing economic loss to livestock production in the region. From a total of 573 cattle coprologically examined during the study period, 291 animals were found positive for liver fluke infection with an overall prevalence rate of 50.79%. There was no statistically significant difference (p > 0.05) in infection rates between male and female animals. Analysis of infection rates on the basis of age of cattle indicated negative or inverse correlation and there were significant differences (p < 0.05) between different age groups. A significant difference (p < 0.05) was observed among studied months with highest monthly prevalence in November and lowest in January. The infection rates (60.48%) were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in poor body condition than good body condition animals (11%) and this signifies the importance of fasciolosis in causing weight loss which is the characteristic sign of chronic fasciolosis. Of the total 196 bovine livers examined at Inchini municipal abattoir, 107(54.49%) animals were found positive for liver fluke and 68.22% of livers harbored Fasciola hepatica, 8.04% Fasciola gigantica and 23.37% infected by both species of Fasciola. This study indicates fasciolosis is the major parasitic health problem in the area and creates economic impact by condemnation of the affected liver. Therefore, proper attention should be paid for strategic deworming, animals should not be allowed to graze in water reservoir areas and further research on meteorological condition of snail infection is highly recommended.