Abstract:
A cross sectional study was carried out from November, 2013 to March, 2014 with the aims of determining the
abattoir prevalence and direct economic loss associated with fasciolosis in cattle at Haramaya municipal abattoir,
Ethiopia. From the total of 480 examined cattle, 117 (24.4%) were found to be positive for fasciolosis by
postmortem liver inspection. From 117 infected livers with Fasciola species, Fasciola hepatica was found to be
the most prevalent species 69(58.974%) and Fasciola gigantic, and mixed infection were proved to be 30(25.64%)
and 18(15.38%), respectively. Highest prevalence of fasciolosis was observed in poor body condition cattle
50(64.1%) followed by medium 40(38.84%) and good body condition cattle 27(9.03%), respectively. Statistical
analysis of the data showed the presence of statistical significant difference (P<0.05) on the prevalence of
fasciolosis among the different body condition scores. There was also a statistically significant difference (P<0.05)
in the prevalence of bovine fasciolosis in different age groups considered. The highest 50(73.5%) prevalence was
in young animals and the lowest 67(16.3%) was found in adult animals. The prevalence of bovine fasciolosis was
highest 71(30.9%) in Haramaya area than Kersa 38(26.7%) and Dawe 8(7.4%) with statistically significant
difference (P<0.05) in the prevalence of bovine fasciolosis was observed. Analysis of the abattoir data indicated a
total annual liver condemnation which resulted in 86, 083.2 Ethiopian birr (4414.523 USD) loss. The results of the
present survey showed that the prevalence and monetary loss of fasciolosis in cattle slaughtered at Haramaya
municipal abattoir was high and warrants immediate need for prevention and control of the parasite in the study
area in particular and in the country at large.
