Evaluation of sulfadimidine, amprolium and triquen to treat coccidiosis in wild pigeons.

W Khan,B T Khan,S N Das,N Rafique,R Gul,A H Mahmoud,S Gul,O B Mohammed,I Ullah,M Khan,K Anwar

doi:10.1590/1519-6984.238673

Abstract

Coccidiosis remains one of the major problems in poultry all over the world. Very limited data on anticoccidial drugs in wild pigeons is available. The current study was aimed to understand the comparative efficacy of sulfadimidine, amprolium and triquen in wild pigeons of Dir district, Pakistan suffering from coccidiosis. The faecal matter of wild pigeons were purchased from the local market for coccidian infection. Results revealed that 88.8% (16/18) were found infected with Eimeria spp. Three positive groups were treated with sulfadimidine (0.2mg/L), amprolium (25mg/L) and triquen. Sulfadimidine was most effective (45%) followed by amprolium (44.6%) while triquen (24.0%) showed less effectiveness against coccidiosis in pigeons. Number of oocysts were 79, 81 and 80 before treatment and 60, 44 and 44 after treatment with sulfadimidine, amprolium and triquen respectively. This study showed that sulphadimidine, amprolium and triquen could not significantly reduce the coccidiosis in pigeons. Further studies are required to clear the mechanism of anti-coccidial drugs in wild pigeons.

Highlights

Coccidiosis is an intestinal sporozoic parasitic protozoan infection of birds and mammals
Out of the total pigeons examined 16 pigeons were found to be infected with coccidiosis caused by Eimeria sp. with overall prevalence of 88.8% (n=16/18)
Present research focused on the prevalence of coccidiosis and efficacy of sulfadimidine, amprolium and triquen against coccidiosis in pigeon of the Lower Dir district, Pakistan

Summary

Introduction

Coccidiosis is an intestinal sporozoic parasitic protozoan infection of birds and mammals. Nine species of the genus Eimeria, have been studied throughout the world, but only three are of economic importantance: Eimeria columbae, E. columbarum and E. labbeana, which are characterized by varying degrees of virulence The occurrence of these species was found in domestic pigeons (Columba livia domestica) and rock pigeons (Columba livia livia). E. labbeana, which lives in the small intestine of pigeons, causes, diarrhea, enteritis and even mortality of the infected birds. These coccidial organisms survive in the environment of the walls of oocysts. Coccidiosis is a common and fatal disease in poultry including pigeons and estimated to be 2 billion dollars a year (Zhang and Zeng, 2005). Keeping in view coccidiosis as the major health problem in wild birds, present study was conducted to detect the prevalence and control of coccidiosis in wild pigeons through different chemotherapeutic agents

Study area

Direct smear examination

Results

Discussion