Prevalence of Giardia in dairy cattle in Lusaka and Chilanga districts, Zambia

Veterinary Parasitology
Cliff KakandelwaI G K Phiri

Abstract

Giardia is an intestinal protozoan parasite of mammals including humans. A cross-sectional study was conducted to estimate prevalence of Giardia infections in smallholder and commercial dairy herds in Chilanga and Lusaka districts of Zambia. A total of 377 calves aged from 1 to 365 days were sampled on 34 farms. All faecal samples were analyzed for Giardia antigen using a commercially available ELISA kit. Overall prevalence of Giardia was 34.5% (95% CI=29.7-39.3). Among smallholder farms, animal level prevalence ranged from 0 to 100% (mean=44.6±36.9 standard deviations) and 12.5 to 60.9% (mean=33.5±16.7 standard deviations) within commercial herds. Prevalence was highest in calves less than three months old (p=0.010), and there was no significant difference in the prevalence between smallholder and commercial farms (p=0.300). Giardia prevalence was not associated with occurrence of diarrhoea in the calves (p=0.205). The study demonstrates that Giardia infections are common in dairy herds in the study areas, especially in calves less than three months of age.

References

Oct 31, 2006·The Veterinary Clinics of North America. Food Animal Practice·Ryan M O'Handley, Merle E Olson
Apr 25, 2007·Veterinary Parasitology·Carla MendonçaNuno Canada
Nov 26, 2010·Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene·Joyce SiwilaAnnette Olsen
Feb 27, 2014·BMC Research Notes·Julia GillhuberMiriam C Scheuerle

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