Prevalence of Endo and Ecto Parasitic Infection of African Giant Rat (Cricetomys gambianus) in North Eastern Nigeria

Abstract

Rodents are one of the most important groups of mammalian animal with more than 42%of the known mammalian species, with 1700 species which belongs to three different families include Muridae, microtidaie and sigmodontidae. The aim of this study is to examine endo and ecto parasitic infection of African Giant rat (Cricetomys Gambianus). Intestinal parasite were detected and identified from the stool samples using formalin ethyl-acetate concentration technique. A total of 18 African giant rats were captured, all of the captured rats were found infected with at least one or more endoparasites (100%). Whereas there’s no any ectoparasites identified from the rat. 16(89%) of the rats captured were found positive for haemoparasite. Therefore, the results of this study have shown that the rats are infected with parasite species that may play an important role in transmission of certain zoonotic diseases to humans. Keywords: African Giant rat, Cricetomys Gambianus, endo and ecto parasitic infection, Rodents, zoonotic disease.