Internal and external parasites of camels (Camelusdromedarius) slaughtered at Addis Ababa Abattoir, Ethiopia

A cross-sectional study was undertakento estimate the prevalence of internal and external parasites of camels slaughtered at Addis Ababa abattoir, Ethiopia. A total of 384 of camels originating from Borena and Metehara areas were examined during the study period and all (100%) of them were found to harbor at least two parasite species. In this study,the prevalence of tick, gastrointestinal parasites, Cephalopinatitillator,Hydatid cyst, and Sarcoptesscabiei var. cameliwere 100, 95.6, 68.2, 65 and 35.4%, respectively. The gastrointestinal parasite’s ova/oocyte identified includeStrongylus species, Trichurisspecies, Strongyloidesspecies and coccidiaat prevalence of 78.1, 47.1, 44.5 and 25.3%, respectively. Of the total 1347 pooled samples of tick collected from 40 randomly selected camels.Rhipicephaluspulchelis, Rhipicephalusevertsievertsi, Hyalomma dromedary, Amblyommagemma,Amblyommavariegatum and Boophilusdecolaratuswere identified at a proportion of 53.90, 21.01, 13.66, 7.5, 3.19 and 0.74%, respectively. The average tick burden from half body region of camels was 33.7 ± 6.24 (range 26 to 53).In general, this study indicates that parasites are still the major problems hindering the productivity and health of camels, hence implementation of strategic control measures and further studies are recommended to reduce the effect of parasites on camel health and productivity. Key words: Abattoir, Addis Ababa,Ethiopia, camel,Cephalopinatitillator,gastrointestinal parasite,Hydatid cysts,Sarcoptesscabieivar.cameli,tick.