Length-weight relationship of fishes from Anambra ... - Zoo-unn.org

NGWU, Godwin Ikechukwu et al.8Studies carried out in Imo state, Nigeria, byOkafor (1988) shows that this is especially soduring the mid-dry season months (Decemberto February).The health of Nigerian populace istherefore at risk as long as these diseased cattleare slaughtered and consumed by the peopleunless appropriate meat inspection policy isadopted to check the spread of these zoonoticdiseases. Also of importance is the need to findappropriate chemotherapeutic and controlmeasures for these parasitic diseases.The main objective of the study is todetermine the prevalence of Fasciola giganticaand Cysticercus bovis and some diseaseconditions of public health importance in theNsukka urban abattoir.MATERIALS AND METHODSThe Study Site and Cattle: The study sitewas Nsukka urban abattoir. The cattleslaughtered in Nsukka urban abattoir werebought off the Hausa and Fulani herdsmen fromthe northern part of Nigeria. These herdsmen ortheir agents brought them down to Nsukka inlorries. However, because the cattle were notslaughtered as soon as they arrived, they weremade to trek to places of pasture within Nsukkaarea.Examination of the Organs and Tissues forInfections: The study began on 7 th Novemberand ended on 8 th December 2001. The abattoirwas visited twice every week. The inspection ofthe meat was made possible through thecooperation of the veterinary staff on duty atthe abattoir. All the cattle studied were of theWhite Fulani (Bunaji), Sokoto Zebu/gudli andNigerian Fulani (Abore) breed from the northernpart of Nigeria. In most abattoirs, meatinspection facilities are inadequate andprocedures are not uniform or standardized, andeven where reasonably well developed, incisionis only limited to certain muscles. The standardthat is followed depends on the epidemiologicalstudies that have been carried out in thatlocality. Each day, the tongue, massetermuscles, heart, lung, spleen, and liver wereinspected by viewing, palpating and incisingfollowing the routine meat inspectionprocedures in the abattoir. The livers wereexamined for Fasciola by making length-wiseincisions of the ventral side of the liver in such away that the bile duct is cut open. Theexamination was then done by pressing the liverwith the thumbs while holding it firmly on theslab or bench. The flukes recovered were takento the laboratory for identification andpreservation.The tongue, masseter muscles, heart,Lung, spleen and liver were carefully viewed,palpated or incised lengthwise for Cysticercusbovis infection as well as other diseaseconditions. The parasites recovered anddiseased organs were fixed in 10 % formalinand preserved in the laboratory.RESULTPrevalence of Parasites: Of the 150 cattleexamined for various parasitic infections anddisease conditions, 116 were males while 34were females. The cattle were a mixture ofyoung and old animals. The only case ofCysticercus bovis infection was found in a liverin November. This represented prevalence rateof 0.67%. There were 15 cases of Fasciolagigantica (figure 1) infections representingprevalence rate of 10% for the period. Eight(7.48 %) of the infections were detected inNovember while seven (16.28%) other cases ofFasciola gigantica infections were detected inDecember. The frequency of occurrence ofFasciola gigantica infections is shown in Table 1.Relationship of Parasite Distribution withSex: This study showed that all the animalsinfected were males. In November, 107 cattlewere examined (79 males and 28 females) outof which 8 males were infected with Fasciolagigantica and one male infected with C. bovis.The Fasciola gigantica infection formed 7.48%with C. bovis formed 0.93% of the cattleexamined for November. No female wasinfected. In December, 43 cattle were examined(37 males & 6 females) out of which 7 males(16.28%) were infected with Fasciola gigantica.This formed 16.28% of the cattle examined inDecember. No female was infected. Therefore,the prevalence rate of infections between thesexes examined in this study showed that therewas no significant difference in infectionbetween the sexes. (X 2 = 139.3, df = 6,P>0.05).Prevalence of other Disease conditions incattle slaughtered in the Abattoir for thePeriod, November to December: Differenttypes of disease conditions were observed indifferent organs and muscles of the cattleexamined (Table 2). The prevalence raterecorded for jaundice in the study was 1.33%(i.e. two cases). Also, two cases of bronchial