Seasonal prevalence of paramphistomosis in domestic ruminants in different agro-climatic zones of Uttarakhand, India

Objective: To establish the epidemiology of paramphistomosis in Hills and Tarai region of\udUttarakhand state, India for the period from 2005 to 2007.\udMethods: For this purpose, 11 278 faecal samples (4 391 cattle, 2 197 buffaloes, 1 760 sheep and\ud2 930 goats) were collected from Hills and Tarai region of Uttarakhand for 2 years. Faecal samples\udwere examined for the presence of paramphistomes eggs, both qualitatively and quantitatively.\udThe data were recorded on the basis of months and prevailing seasons of the state.\udResults: The overall prevalence of paramphistomosis during this period in domestic ruminants\udwas 9.69%. Also, bovines (cattle-12.4% and buffaloes-12.3%) were found to be more prone to\udinfection as compared to small ruminants (sheep-7.4% and goats-4.9%). The peak infection was\udobserved in the monsoon and post monsoon season (17.42%). This trend was similar for both Tarai\ud(15%) and Hills (6.7%). The overall prevalence in Tarai was found to be 12.3% and in Hills it was 3.9%.\udIn both Tarai and Hills region, maximum prevalence was seen in cattle with infectivity of 14% and\ud7.2% respectively and minimum prevalence in goat with infectivity of 8.7% and 2% respectively.\udMaximum mean eggs per gram was recorded in buffalo (22.05 in winter) followed by cattle (19.7\udin summer), goat and sheep (18.7 and 16.33 in monsoon and post monsoon). The most common\udspecies of paramphistomes recorded were Paramphistomum cervi, Gastrothylax crumenifer and\udFischoederius elongatus.\udConclusions: The analysis of the data obtained revealed that prevalence was more in the Tarai\udregion as compared to the Hills region and this pattern remained same after quantitative analysis\udof the samples