A Survey of Seasonal Gastrointestinal Parasitic Infections in Donkeys from a Semiarid Sub-Saharan Region, Sudan

Hindawi Publishing Corporation Journal of Pathogens Volume 2016, Article ID 4602751, 8 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/4602751 Research Article A Survey of Seasonal Gastrointestinal Parasitic Infections in Donkeys from a Semiarid Sub-Saharan Region, Sudan Ahmed Abdurhman Ismail,1 Nasredin Khogali Ahmed,2 Ahmed Elhag Bashar,3 Hisham Ismail Seri,4 El Tigani Ahmed El Tigani-Asil,1,5 and Adam Dawoud Abakar6 1 Department of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Nyala, P.O. Box 155, Nyala, Sudan Directorate of Animal Health, State Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources, P.O. Box 155, Nyala, South Darfur, Sudan 3 Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Nyala, P.O. Box 155, Nyala, Sudan 4 College of Veterinary Medicine, Sudan University of Science and Technology, Khartoum, Sudan 5 Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Qassim University, P.O. Box 6622, Buraidah 51452, Saudi Arabia 6 Department of Medical Parasitology, Faculty of Medical Laboratory Sciences, University of Gezira, P.O. Box 20, Wadmedani, Sudan 2 Correspondence should be addressed to El Tigani Ahmed El Tigani-Asil; Received 1 November 2015; Accepted 3 March 2016 Academic Editor: Alexander Rodriguez-Palacios Copyright © 2016 Ahmed Abdurhman Ismail et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Out of 92 donkeys examined for gastrointestinal parasites, 90 animals were found infected by one or more gastrointestinal parasites with an overall prevalence rate of 97.78%. The distributions of the recovered parasites in the different parts of the body were as follows: stomach, 92.4%, small intestine, 19.6%, caecum, 88%, colon, 80.4%, rectum, 73.9%, and cranial mesenteric artery, 64.1%. A significant difference was found between mean parasite counts and seasons. Hot wet season had higher mean parasites count (5411.5 ± 1694.4) in comparison with hot dry (1795.9 ± 399.6) and cool dry (1719.9 ± 522.4) seasons. Although there was no significant difference between age and mean parasite count, animals more than four years old had high mean count (3361.3 ± 921.8) in comparison with 2330 ± 744.3 and 2030.2 ± 873.1 for young and adults animals, respectively. No significant positive or negative correlation was found between total parasite counts of infected animals and any of the climatic factors. The parasites identified were Habronema spp. (40.2%), Trichostrongylus axei (30.4%), Parascaris equorum (18.5%), Anoplocephala perfoliata (4.35%), Gastrodiscus aegyptiacus (8.7%), large strongyles (84%), small strongyles (72%), and Oxyuris equi (1.1%). 1. Introduction The importance of donkeys in the Sudan is unequivocal. The animal provides support and transport at a low cost for urban and rural areas. The donkey has a potential of making valuable contribution to new development strategies such as reconstruction and development programmes in many parts of Sudan especially Darfur region as they diversify source of income in the rural areas. Despite the economic importance of donkeys in the Sudan, little attention has been drawn towards their diseases in general and particularly gastrointestinal parasites. The earliest recognized parasitic disease of donkeys in the Sudan was strongyle infections which have been shown to cause serious losses in affected areas [1, 2]. The report of Hamid et al. [3] from South Darfur has attracted the attention of scientists towards the importance of donkey parasites especially gastrointestinal parasites. A few years later, reports from Khartoum and Nyala provided some information on the distribution of gastrointestinal parasites and other parasitic diseases in the Sudan [4–7]. Nevertheless, the current situation of parasitic disease in other states where the donkey is usually prevalent is rather obscure and deserves some more emphasis. The present study reports on the prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites of donkeys in Nyala, South Darfur State, and identifies the gastrointestinal parasites infesting donkeys in the study area. Furthermore, the study highlights risk factors associated with gastrointestinal parasitic infection. 2 Journal of Pathogens Figure 1: Geographical location of the study area, South Darfur State [8]. 2. Materials and Methods 2.1. Study Area. The present study was conducted at Nyala town, South Darfur State, Sudan. South Darfur State is located in the southwest of Sudan. It covers 139800 km2 between latitude 13–9.30∘ north and longitude 27–24.30∘ east. The state has common boarders with North Darfur, West Kordofan, Northern Bahr El Ghazal, and West Darfur States. It also shared boarders with Chad and Central Africa Republic [8]. The climate in South Darfur State is savannah type with clay sandy soil in the south, while the north is semidesert with sandy soil. The meteorological annual data of 40 years obtained from Nyala Airport Meteorological Station showed that the mean minimum and maximum temperature are 20.98∘ and 35.14∘ C. The mean annual relative humidity is 35.58% and the mean total rainfall is 402 mm. There is a single rainy season, which occurs between June and October, but the bulk of the rainfall takes place during the period of July–September. The area is traversed by several watercourses originating from Jebel Marra Mountains; the natural pasture is dominated by abo-asabei grass (Dactyloctenium aegyptium) with variable proportion of legumes (Figure 1). 2.2. Study Animals. This study involved 92 donkeys. Animals used in this study were purchased from Nyala livestock market and were admitted from different areas in the South Darfur State but most of them came from camps of displaced people. All the animals examined were of common local type and of varying ages (1–13 years) and of both sexes (Figure 2). The majority were adult animals. Considering the husbandry and care practices of donkeys in South Darfur State, the body condition of the animals and their other parasitic faunas suggested that they had rarely received any drug treatment against gastrointestinal parasites. 2.3. Experimental Design. This is a cross-sectional study; the plan of work constituted a 12-month parasitological survey on the donkeys obtained from Nyala livestock market extending from May 2005 to April 2006. The examined animals were acquired at different seasons of the year representing the dry cold season (November–February), dry hot season (March– June), and wet hot season (July–October). They were from animals that graze on natural pasture throughout the year. Five to 13 donkeys were examined every month. The intervals between the acquisition of animals and necropsy examination range between 3 and 7 days. 2.4. Postmortem Procedures. From May 2005 to April 2006, 92 donkeys were killed and necropsied at the Faculty of Veterinary S (...truncated)