Survey and Prevalence of Gastro-intestinal Cestodes in Village Chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) Slaughtered in Gombe Metropolis Poultry Dressing Slabs

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of Cestode of village chickens slaughtered at six poultry dressing slabs (N = 600) within Gombe metropolis by postmortem and parasitological examination of gastrointestinal tracts and trachea. A total of seven Cestode species were recovered from the small intestine with an overall prevalence of 33.4% in the northern markets and 32.9% in the southern markets. Cestode species identified include Raillietina echinobothrida(438) , Raillietina tetragona (464) , Raillietina cesticillus (208), Hymenolepis carioca (95) , Hymenolepis contaniana (129) , Davainea proglottina (25) and Choanotaenia infundibulum (18). There were no significant association between the occurrence of the infection and the two zones of the study area (r = 0.0012; p > 0.05). The study also indicated that female had a higher prevalence 97% (CI = 2.24 – 10.4) than the male 86.5% (CI = 0.09 – 0.4). There was significant association of gender with the occurrence of infection. (r = 0.8; p < 0.05). The odd of occurrence of the infection was about four times higher in the female than male. This study provides baseline data on prevalence and species distribution of Cestodes of village chickens in Gombe. There is therefore the need for further studies on epidemiology and economic significance of Cestodes of village chickens under the traditional free range management system.