Study on the incidence of liver lesions in goats (Capra hircus) at Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India

Abstract

Liver diseases constitute a major economic problem and there is less information about the incidence of liver lesions in goats. The study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of disease conditions affecting the liver. A total of 1000 cases (17.42%) were found affected with various pathological conditions of liver out of 5741 goat carcasses examined during the period from May 2009 to April 2010. The study revealed that cirrhosis was the most common condition with an incidence of 2.73% (n=157), followed by abscess - 2.59% (n=149), congestion- 1.95% (n=112), abnormal appearance - 1.43% (n=82), cysticercosis - 1.43% (n=82), fascioliasis - 1.38% (n=79), necrosis - 1.25% (n=72), cellular swelling - 0.96% (n=55), echinococcosis - 0.96% (n=55), haemorrhages - 0.75% (n=43), fatty changes - 0.56% (n=32), white spots/nodules - 0.54% (n=31), schistosomiasis - 0.42% (n=24), mineralization - 0.40% (n=23), tumors - 0.05% (n=3) and foreign body - 0.02% (n=1). The incidence of parasitic conditions recorded was 4.19% (240 cases). Because of their zoonotic nature, the observed high frequency of cysticercosis, fascioliasis, echinococcosis and schistosomiasis infections are thought to pose a public health risk among consumers. Highest percent (4.19%) of liver condemnations due to parasitic conditions were observed more during the rainy season. Deworming programmes coupled with good animal husbandry would likely be effective in lowering the incidence of parasitic diseases.