Prevalence of Fasciola Infection in Cattle- Ready- for -Slaughtering at some Abattoirs in Oyo, Oyo State, Nigeria

Fascioliasis is one of the most prevalent and economically significant parasitic illnesses of domestic animals, particularly cattle, sheep, goats, and man. It is particularly widespread in countries with heavy cattle production especially places with low interest in vector-related diseases. Therefore, the study was designed to investigate the prevalence of this parasitic disease among the cattle slaughtered in the selected abattoirs in Oyo, Oyo State, Nigeria. Two hundred and fifty (250) faecal samples were collected from the rectum of the slaughtered cattle. The samples were analyzed using the Formol-ether Concentration technique. Also, post mortem examination of the liver and other organs of the slaughtered cattle (250) at the abbattior were also examined for Fasciola infestation. The data were were analyzed with Chi-square at 5% level of significance using SPSS. It was observed that 77 (30.8%) were positive to fascioliasis out of the 250 slaughtered cattle examined. The prevalence of the infection based on the sex of the cattle was found to be statistically significant (p = 0.001).The percentage of fascioliasis depending on the breed of the cattle was observed to be lowest (25%) in Sokoto Gudali and highest (33.33%) in White Fulani. The analysis implied that there was a strong association between infection and cattle breeds. Prevalence of fascioliasis based on the estimated age of animals was not statistically significant however; animals aged 3 years and 6 months had the highest percentage (54.1%) while those within 2 years and 6 months had no cases of fascioliasis. Fascioliasis is an endemic illness in the study area among cattle slaughtered for consumption. This suggests the possibility of human infestation through consumption especially when it is under-processed. The need for health policy to ensure slaughtering of healthy cattle become important to ensure safe public health especially through consumption of meat. Also, public health intervention through mass vaccination of cattle, education of cattle farmers and introduction of veterinary inspectors at the point of slaughter is important in controlling Fascioliasis.