Epidemiology of Oestrus ovis L. infestation in sheep in Nigde province, Turkey

Abstract

The objective of this study is to examine the prevalence of oestrosis caused by the Oestrus ovis L. in the sheep of Nigde province, Turkey. The study examines the presence of O. ovis larvae in 364 sheep heads collected from Nigde slaughterhouses between August 2010 and July 2011 with an average of about 30 per month. Oestrus ovis larvae were detected in the 82 (22.52%) out of the 364 sheep heads tested. Prevalence of O. ovis in the sheep was identified with regards to the months and seasons 0-60% and 11.11-49.47%, respectively. In addition, the infestation rate in the 6-9 months old sheep was found to be 23.28%, and 21.71% in the 1-2 years old sheep. While differences in the rates of infestation in terms of months and seasons were determined to be statistically significant (p<0.01), in terms of age groups it was found statistically insignificant (p>0.05). A total of 474 larvae were encountered in the infested sheep, 49 (10.33%) of those larvae were identified as L-1, 236 (49.78%) were identified as L-2, and 189 (39.87%) were identified as L-3.