Monitoring of the epizootic situation sheep strongyloidiasis on Ukrainian territory

Abstract

One of the reasons that reduce the efficiency of sheep breeding development and lead to significant economic losses of the industry in Ukraine and the world is helminthic diseases, particularly strongyloidiasis caused by parasitic nematodes. Strongyloides parasitize in the small intestine of animals and lead to slow growth and development of young sheep, diarrhea, anemia, ataxia. At the high intensity of invasion - animals can die. The study aimed to analyze monitoring studies on the prevalence of strongyloidiasis in sheep in Ukraine based on statistical data of the reporting documentation of the State Research Institute for Laboratory Diagnostics and Veterinary Sanitary Examination during 2016–2020. Studies have shown that helminthiasis of sheep is a common invasion in farms of various forms of ownership in Ukraine, where the extent of the invasion ranged from 1.44 to 3.27 %. The share of helminthiasis of the digestive tract of sheep from the total number of detected helminthiasis reaches 84.21 %. The most common of the helminthiases of the gastrointestinal tract were nematodes; their share was 63.07 %. Trematodes and cestodes were diagnosed less frequently; their share among helminthiases of the digestive tract was 35.05 and 1.88 %, respectively. It was found that among the nematodes of the digestive tract parasitizing in sheep in Ukraine, the largest share was strongylidosis, in particular bunostomosis, nematodyrosis, hemonchosis (65.20 %), and strongyloidiasis (33.92 %). A smaller proportion were esophagostomosis (0.74 %) and trichurosis (0.14 %). Indicators of prevalence were: for strongylidosis (bunostomosis, nematodyrosis, hemonchosis) – 10.98 %, for strogiloidiasis – 4.48 %, for esophagostomosis – 0.42 %, for trichurosis – 0.21 %. In terms of years, the rates of damage to sheep by the causative agent of strongyloidiasis fluctuated significantly with the increasing prevalence of strongyloidiasis invasion during 2019–2020. Indicators of infestation of sheep with the causative agent of strongyloidiasis during the study period in Ukraine were at the level of 1.91 % (2018) to 16.14 % (2019). The data we obtained testify to the urgency of the problem of nematodes, particularly strongyloidiasis of sheep in Ukrainian farms, and lead to more thorough research on epizootological, biological features of the causative agent strongyloidiasis and the introduction of effective treatment and prevention measures.