Prevalence, intensity, and pathological lesions of Eimeria infection in goats in western Iran

Abstract

The present study was carried out to survey the prevalence, intensity and pathological lesions of coccidia in 350 goats in western Iran from March 2012 to February 2013. The overall prevalence of coccidial infection was 83.43 % (292/350), with prevalence of 84 % (168/200) for adult goats and 82.66 % (124/150) for kids. Nine species of Eimeria were identified, namely, Eimeria arloingi, Eimeria parva, Eimeria ninakohlyakimovae, Eimeria pallida, Eimeria christenseni, Eimeria caprina, Eimeria hirci, Eimeria faurei, and Eimeria granulosa. The most common Eimeria species was E. arloingi (85.96 %), and E. granulosa was observed in the smallest proportion (3.08 %) of samples. Concurrent infection with two to five species was present in 78.45 % of positive samples. On gross examination, minimal changes were observed as thickening of the intestinal mucosa associated with a few scattered small whitish foci in the jejunum and ileum and advanced lesions as a pseudoadenomatous pattern in the mucosa and a cerebriform pattern on the serosal surface of the jejunum and ileum. The main histopathological lesion was proliferative enteritis associated with the presence of the developmental stages of parasite in the epithelial cells of the villi and crypts of the jejunum, ileum, and cecum. The results of the present investigation revealed that prevalence of coccidial infection is significantly high in western Iran and also have implications for the control of coccidial infections in the goat industry.