Survey of Eimeria in Water Buffaloes (Bubalus Bubalis L.) in Laguna and Cavite Provinces

Mildred  A. Padilla,; Jose Redentor  M. Romero,

Survey of Eimeria in Water Buffaloes (Bubalus Bubalis L.) in Laguna and Cavite Provinces

Mildred A. Padilla | Jose Redentor M. Romero

Discipline: Veterinary Medicine, Animal Science

Abstract:

We conducted a cross-sectional survey on the prevalence and intensity of Eimeria infection in a convenient sample of water buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis L.) from 21 farms located in Laguna and Cavite and examined the association between selected factors (age, sex and presence of diarrhea) and Eimeria infection. Rectal fecal samples from 200 buffaloes (calves, yearlings and adults of both sexes) were concentrated for Eimeria oocysts by the salt flotation method. The possible association of the infection with biologically plausible risk factors such as age, sex and presence of diarrhea was analyzed by univariate analysis. We found four Eimeria species namely: E. zuernii (36.%), E. bovis (32%), E. ellipsoidalis (18 %) and E. alabamensis (14 %) in infected animals. The prevalence of Eimeria among individual buffaloes was 16.5% (animal prevalence, 33/24)0) and 66.6% (herd prevalence, 14/21) of buffalo herds. Co-infection with strongyles was found in 39.4% (13 out of 33) of infected buffaloes and 36.4% (12 out of 33) of infected herds. Prevalence was highest in 1-year-old age group (21.3%), followed by 4-year-old age group(12.1%) and 1-4-year-old age group (14.3%), but the difference was not significant (p>O.05). The oocyst levels were highest in buffaloes under 1 year of age (mean OPG feces 9.1 ± 1.58) and lowest in >4-year-old age group (mean OPG feces 8.5±1.12), but the difference was not significant (p>0.05). Prevalence of Eimeria infection was 1.9 times higher in males (25%) than in females (12.9%), but the difference was not significant. Age (odds ratio =1.88; 95% confidence interval = 0.83,4.28) sex (OR=2.26; 95% CI= 0.98,5.19), and presence of diarrhea (OR=0.09; 95% CI= 0.1, 4.58) were not related to increase risk of infection. A weak negative relationship existed between age and intensity of infection(r= -0.045; p>0.05). Age could only explain 0.2% of the variability in fecal OPG counts.