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Prevalence and chemotherapy of Balantidium coli in cattle in the River Ravi region, Lahore (Pakistan)
Veterinary Parasitology 163 (2009) 15–17
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Veterinary Parasitology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/vetpar
Prevalence and chemotherapy of Balantidium coli in cattle in the River Ravi region, Lahore (Pakistan) C.Q. Bilal, M.S. Khan, M. Avais *, M. Ijaz, J.A. Khan Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore-54000, Punjab, Pakistan
A R T I C L E I N F O
A B S T R A C T
Article history: Received 16 February 2008 Received in revised form 30 March 2009 Accepted 14 April 2009
The prevalence of Balantidium coli in cattle from the River Ravi region of Lahore was examined and the efficacy of three treatments measured. A total of 200 fecal samples were collected from cattle and examined microscopically; 50 (25%) were positive for B. coli cysts. The final efficacy of treatment with metronidazole, oxytetracycline, or secnidazole was 37.5%, 62.5%, and 87.5%, respectively, making secnidazole the most effective. ß 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Oxytetracycline Secnidazole Metronidazole Efficacy Bovidae Protozoa
1. Introduction Parasitic diseases are the major constraints to the development of the livestock industry in developing countries, including Pakistan. Factors such as continuous exposure to parasites, climatic conditions, and lack of knowledge on the part of livestock farmers regarding parasitic transmission play an important role in maintaining parasitic diseases. Balantidium coli has worldwide distribution in a variety of hosts, including both domestic and wild animals. Pigs, in which the infection is usually asymptomatic, are probably the main reservoir host of Balantidium. Infection in pigs has been reported in Bolivia, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines, with a prevalence of less than 1% (Nakauchi, 1999; Smith, 2003). Akinboade et al. (1983) recorded a prevalence of 2.8% in pigs in Ibadan, Nigeria. B. coli has been reported in some northerly regions such as Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Northern Russia, but the
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +92 321 6307687. E-mail address: [email protected] (M. Avais). 0304-4017/$ – see front matter ß 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.vetpar.2009.04.023
highest prevalence is found in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. The major endemic foci are South and Central America, Central Asia, and some Pacific Islands (Hoeven and Rijpstra, 1961). Sporadic occurrence of B. coli in humans in Nigeria has been reported with a prevalence of 0.6% (Fabiyi, 2001). The River Ravi flows through Lahore city and is thought to receive almost half of all pollutants discharged into all of Pakistan’s rivers. Industrial and agricultural discharges from India are added to the pollutant loading, and this is now slowly entering the animal and human food chain. Investigation of B. coli has not been actively conducted in the River Ravi region, where cattle rearing is a major occupation, along with crop farming. Cattle are grazed on open areas of the riverbank and mixed with cattle belonging to different families. They have free access to polluted water of the river and also to garbage discarded on the riverbank. Thus their usual environment is highly unhygienic. There is considerable information on B. coli in most pig raising communities in the world, but very little information on the parasite in cattle. This study describes the prevalence and chemotherapy of B. coli
C.Q. Bilal et al. / Veterinary Parasitology 163 (2009) 15–17
16
Table 1 Prevalence of Balantidium coli in cattle from River Ravi bank, Lahore. Cattle breed
n
Number positive for B. coli cysts Adult male*
Sahiwal Jersey Friesen Cross-bred Total (%) *
50 50 50 50 200
Young male*
2 3 3 2 10 (5.0)
Adult female*
3 3 4 3
3 3 2 3
13 (6.5)
Young female*
Total (%)*
3 5 4 4
11 (5.5)
11 14 13 12
16 (8.0)
(22.0) (28.0) (26.0) (24.0)
50 (25.0)
Non-significant difference (P > 0.05) among different breeds and age groups.
in cattle in the region of the River Ravi, Lahore, Pakistan and will provide baseline data for further work on B. coli in cattle.
2. Materials and methods Two hundred fecal samples were collected from cattle in the River Ravi region of Lahore in the Central Punjab Province of Pakistan. Data on sex, age, and breed of cattle were recorded. Feces were collected from the rectum, and placed in sterile bottles for transport to the laboratory. Samples not tested immediately were held at 4 8C for no longer than 3 days. Wet mounts of B. coli cysts were prepared using the sedimentation technique described by Soulsby (1982). Of 50 cattle of mixed age, sex, and breed that tested positive for B. coli, 32 were randomly selected and placed in four groups of 8 (A–D). A fifth group (E) comprised 8 uninfected animals. Groups A, B, and C were treated with oxytetracycline (Terramycine, Pfizer, Pvt. Ltd., Pakistan) at 8 mg kg 1 BW, secnidazole (Dysen Forte, Nabi Qasim, Pvt. Ltd., Pakistan) at 10 mg kg 1 BW, and metronidazole (Flagyle, Sanofi-Aventis, Pakistan) at 25 mg kg 1 BW, respectively. Group D served as a positive control, and group E was the negative control. Fecal samples were collected at day 0 (pre-medication) and on days 3, 7, and 10 (post-medication) for B. coli cyst counts. The number of B. coli cysts/g of feces was calculated using the McMaster Technique (Soulsby, 1982). The efficacy of drugs was calculated as described by Varady et al. (2004): Pretreatment EPG Posttreatment EPG 100 Pretreatment EPG Data were evaluated using the x2 test. Probability levels (P) of 0.05 were considered significant.
3. Results and discussion Data on prevalence of B. coli are shown in Table 1. Of 200 cattle, 50 (25%) cattle tested positive for B. coli cysts. There were no significant differences among cattle of any breed, sex or age. In a survey conducted in India, 26.8% of cattle samples examined were positive for B. coli cysts (Partani et al., 1998), and in Iran, 25% of cattle samples were positive (Anwar et al., 2004). Our results were also broadly consistent with the findings of Tarrar et al. (2008) who reported 20% infected buffaloes in Pakistan. The prevalence of 25% obtained in this study is much lower than 48% obtained by Hussanjak et al. (1997) in Croatia, which could be attributed to the differing geoclimatic conditions in the studied areas. Under the high temperatures that characterize the present study area, cysts may rapidly lose viability and hence be less infective. The cyst counts in groups A–E are shown in Table 2. A significant decrease (P < 0.05) in counts was observed in groups A–C compared with control group D. The therapeutic efficacy of oxytetracycline, secnidazole and metronidazole is given in Table 3. The efficacy of secnidazole and oxytetracycline was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than that of metronidazole. These results are in agreement with those of Tarrar et al. (2008), who reported 83% efficacy of secnidazole. Similarly, Patil et al. (1998) reported oxytetracycline to be an effective drug against balantidiosis in buffalo. The largely free-range animal rearing coupled with an unhygienic environment may increase exposure of cattle to infection. Thus, there is a need to encourage rearing of cattle in confined conditions where animal health can be monitored for greater profitability and protection of public health. It was concluded that B. coli is of considerable importance in cattle in the study area, and that secnidazole is the most effective treatment.
Table 2 B. coli cyst count in different groups at various days (mean SD). Groups
A* B* C* D* E *
B. coli cyst count/g at day 0*
3*
7*
10*
373.75 60.223 361.25 53.835 355.00 58.797 342.50 64.310 0.00 0.00
280.31 45.167 225.78 33.647 310.63 51.448 350.00 55.549 0.00 0.00
186.88 30.111 90.31 13.459 266.25 44.098 361.25 78.638 0.00 0.00
140.16 22.584 45.16 6.729 221.88 36.748 368.75 69.987 0.00 0.00
Significant difference among groups at various days (P < 0.05).
C.Q. Bilal et al. / Veterinary Parasitology 163 (2009) 15–17 Table 3 Comparative efficacy of oxytetracycline, secnidazole and metronidazole at various days in cattle. Drug
Efficacy (%) at day 3
7
10
Oxytetracycline* Secnidazole* Metronidazole*
25 37.5 12.5
50 75 25
62.5 87.5 37.5
*
Significant difference (P < 0.05).
References Akinboade, O.A., Sadiq, N.A., Dipeolu, O.O., 1983. The incidence of Balantidium coli among local and exotic pigs in Ibadan, Oyo, State, Nigeria. Rev. Elev. Med. Vet. Pays Trop. 36, 133–136. Anwar, M.A., Mowlavi, G.R., Solaymani, S., Rezaian, M., Babaei, Z., 2004. Intestinal protozoa in wild boars (Sus scrofa) in Western Iran. J. Wildl. Dis. 40, 801–803.
17
Fabiyi, J.P., 2001. Parasitic zoonosis in Nigeria. Afr. J. Nat. Sci. 4, 9–15. Hoeven, V., Rijpstra, A.C., 1961. Intestinal parasites in the central mountain district of Netherland, New Guinea. Doc. Med. Geogr. Trop. 9, 225–228. Hussanjak, M., Rajkovic, J., Bosnic, S., 1997. Endoparasite infections of cattle on family-owned farms. Praxis-Veterinaria-Zagreb 45, 87–90. Nakauchi, K., 1999. The prevalence of Balantidium coli infection in fifty six mammalian species. J. Vet. Med. Sci. 61, 63–65. Partani, A.K., Kumar, D., Bhan, A.K., 1998. Prevalence of Balantidium coli infection in camels at Bikaner, Rajasthan. J. Vet. Parasitol. 12, 118– 121. Patil, N.A., Udupa, K.G., Kumar, S.P., 1998. Prevalence, clinical symptoms and treatment of balantidiosis in buffaloes. Buffalo Bull. 17, 61–64. Smith, D.S., 2003. Parasites and Pestilence: Infectious Public Health Challenges. http//:www.stanford.edu/class/humanbiol03/ParaSites2003/ Balantidium. Soulsby, E.J.L., 1982. Helminths, Arthropods and Protozoa of Domestic Animals. Bailliere Tindall, London, UK, pp. 765–766. Tarrar, M.A., Khan, M.S., Pervez, K., Ashraf, K., Khan, J.A., Rehman, Z.U., 2008. Detection and chemotherapy of Balantidium coli in buffaloes around Lahore, Pakistan. Pak. J. Agric. Sci. 45, 163–166. Varady, M., Konigova, A., Corba, J., 2004. A field study to evaluate the efficacy of fenbendazole on 9 stud farms. Vet. Med. Czech. 49, 42–46.
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Veterinary Parasitology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/vetpar
Prevalence and chemotherapy of Balantidium coli in cattle in the River Ravi region, Lahore (Pakistan) C.Q. Bilal, M.S. Khan, M. Avais *, M. Ijaz, J.A. Khan Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore-54000, Punjab, Pakistan
A R T I C L E I N F O
A B S T R A C T
Article history: Received 16 February 2008 Received in revised form 30 March 2009 Accepted 14 April 2009
The prevalence of Balantidium coli in cattle from the River Ravi region of Lahore was examined and the efficacy of three treatments measured. A total of 200 fecal samples were collected from cattle and examined microscopically; 50 (25%) were positive for B. coli cysts. The final efficacy of treatment with metronidazole, oxytetracycline, or secnidazole was 37.5%, 62.5%, and 87.5%, respectively, making secnidazole the most effective. ß 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Oxytetracycline Secnidazole Metronidazole Efficacy Bovidae Protozoa
1. Introduction Parasitic diseases are the major constraints to the development of the livestock industry in developing countries, including Pakistan. Factors such as continuous exposure to parasites, climatic conditions, and lack of knowledge on the part of livestock farmers regarding parasitic transmission play an important role in maintaining parasitic diseases. Balantidium coli has worldwide distribution in a variety of hosts, including both domestic and wild animals. Pigs, in which the infection is usually asymptomatic, are probably the main reservoir host of Balantidium. Infection in pigs has been reported in Bolivia, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines, with a prevalence of less than 1% (Nakauchi, 1999; Smith, 2003). Akinboade et al. (1983) recorded a prevalence of 2.8% in pigs in Ibadan, Nigeria. B. coli has been reported in some northerly regions such as Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Northern Russia, but the
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +92 321 6307687. E-mail address: [email protected] (M. Avais). 0304-4017/$ – see front matter ß 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.vetpar.2009.04.023
highest prevalence is found in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. The major endemic foci are South and Central America, Central Asia, and some Pacific Islands (Hoeven and Rijpstra, 1961). Sporadic occurrence of B. coli in humans in Nigeria has been reported with a prevalence of 0.6% (Fabiyi, 2001). The River Ravi flows through Lahore city and is thought to receive almost half of all pollutants discharged into all of Pakistan’s rivers. Industrial and agricultural discharges from India are added to the pollutant loading, and this is now slowly entering the animal and human food chain. Investigation of B. coli has not been actively conducted in the River Ravi region, where cattle rearing is a major occupation, along with crop farming. Cattle are grazed on open areas of the riverbank and mixed with cattle belonging to different families. They have free access to polluted water of the river and also to garbage discarded on the riverbank. Thus their usual environment is highly unhygienic. There is considerable information on B. coli in most pig raising communities in the world, but very little information on the parasite in cattle. This study describes the prevalence and chemotherapy of B. coli
C.Q. Bilal et al. / Veterinary Parasitology 163 (2009) 15–17
16
Table 1 Prevalence of Balantidium coli in cattle from River Ravi bank, Lahore. Cattle breed
n
Number positive for B. coli cysts Adult male*
Sahiwal Jersey Friesen Cross-bred Total (%) *
50 50 50 50 200
Young male*
2 3 3 2 10 (5.0)
Adult female*
3 3 4 3
3 3 2 3
13 (6.5)
Young female*
Total (%)*
3 5 4 4
11 (5.5)
11 14 13 12
16 (8.0)
(22.0) (28.0) (26.0) (24.0)
50 (25.0)
Non-significant difference (P > 0.05) among different breeds and age groups.
in cattle in the region of the River Ravi, Lahore, Pakistan and will provide baseline data for further work on B. coli in cattle.
2. Materials and methods Two hundred fecal samples were collected from cattle in the River Ravi region of Lahore in the Central Punjab Province of Pakistan. Data on sex, age, and breed of cattle were recorded. Feces were collected from the rectum, and placed in sterile bottles for transport to the laboratory. Samples not tested immediately were held at 4 8C for no longer than 3 days. Wet mounts of B. coli cysts were prepared using the sedimentation technique described by Soulsby (1982). Of 50 cattle of mixed age, sex, and breed that tested positive for B. coli, 32 were randomly selected and placed in four groups of 8 (A–D). A fifth group (E) comprised 8 uninfected animals. Groups A, B, and C were treated with oxytetracycline (Terramycine, Pfizer, Pvt. Ltd., Pakistan) at 8 mg kg 1 BW, secnidazole (Dysen Forte, Nabi Qasim, Pvt. Ltd., Pakistan) at 10 mg kg 1 BW, and metronidazole (Flagyle, Sanofi-Aventis, Pakistan) at 25 mg kg 1 BW, respectively. Group D served as a positive control, and group E was the negative control. Fecal samples were collected at day 0 (pre-medication) and on days 3, 7, and 10 (post-medication) for B. coli cyst counts. The number of B. coli cysts/g of feces was calculated using the McMaster Technique (Soulsby, 1982). The efficacy of drugs was calculated as described by Varady et al. (2004): Pretreatment EPG Posttreatment EPG 100 Pretreatment EPG Data were evaluated using the x2 test. Probability levels (P) of 0.05 were considered significant.
3. Results and discussion Data on prevalence of B. coli are shown in Table 1. Of 200 cattle, 50 (25%) cattle tested positive for B. coli cysts. There were no significant differences among cattle of any breed, sex or age. In a survey conducted in India, 26.8% of cattle samples examined were positive for B. coli cysts (Partani et al., 1998), and in Iran, 25% of cattle samples were positive (Anwar et al., 2004). Our results were also broadly consistent with the findings of Tarrar et al. (2008) who reported 20% infected buffaloes in Pakistan. The prevalence of 25% obtained in this study is much lower than 48% obtained by Hussanjak et al. (1997) in Croatia, which could be attributed to the differing geoclimatic conditions in the studied areas. Under the high temperatures that characterize the present study area, cysts may rapidly lose viability and hence be less infective. The cyst counts in groups A–E are shown in Table 2. A significant decrease (P < 0.05) in counts was observed in groups A–C compared with control group D. The therapeutic efficacy of oxytetracycline, secnidazole and metronidazole is given in Table 3. The efficacy of secnidazole and oxytetracycline was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than that of metronidazole. These results are in agreement with those of Tarrar et al. (2008), who reported 83% efficacy of secnidazole. Similarly, Patil et al. (1998) reported oxytetracycline to be an effective drug against balantidiosis in buffalo. The largely free-range animal rearing coupled with an unhygienic environment may increase exposure of cattle to infection. Thus, there is a need to encourage rearing of cattle in confined conditions where animal health can be monitored for greater profitability and protection of public health. It was concluded that B. coli is of considerable importance in cattle in the study area, and that secnidazole is the most effective treatment.
Table 2 B. coli cyst count in different groups at various days (mean SD). Groups
A* B* C* D* E *
B. coli cyst count/g at day 0*
3*
7*
10*
373.75 60.223 361.25 53.835 355.00 58.797 342.50 64.310 0.00 0.00
280.31 45.167 225.78 33.647 310.63 51.448 350.00 55.549 0.00 0.00
186.88 30.111 90.31 13.459 266.25 44.098 361.25 78.638 0.00 0.00
140.16 22.584 45.16 6.729 221.88 36.748 368.75 69.987 0.00 0.00
Significant difference among groups at various days (P < 0.05).
C.Q. Bilal et al. / Veterinary Parasitology 163 (2009) 15–17 Table 3 Comparative efficacy of oxytetracycline, secnidazole and metronidazole at various days in cattle. Drug
Efficacy (%) at day 3
7
10
Oxytetracycline* Secnidazole* Metronidazole*
25 37.5 12.5
50 75 25
62.5 87.5 37.5
*
Significant difference (P < 0.05).
References Akinboade, O.A., Sadiq, N.A., Dipeolu, O.O., 1983. The incidence of Balantidium coli among local and exotic pigs in Ibadan, Oyo, State, Nigeria. Rev. Elev. Med. Vet. Pays Trop. 36, 133–136. Anwar, M.A., Mowlavi, G.R., Solaymani, S., Rezaian, M., Babaei, Z., 2004. Intestinal protozoa in wild boars (Sus scrofa) in Western Iran. J. Wildl. Dis. 40, 801–803.
17
Fabiyi, J.P., 2001. Parasitic zoonosis in Nigeria. Afr. J. Nat. Sci. 4, 9–15. Hoeven, V., Rijpstra, A.C., 1961. Intestinal parasites in the central mountain district of Netherland, New Guinea. Doc. Med. Geogr. Trop. 9, 225–228. Hussanjak, M., Rajkovic, J., Bosnic, S., 1997. Endoparasite infections of cattle on family-owned farms. Praxis-Veterinaria-Zagreb 45, 87–90. Nakauchi, K., 1999. The prevalence of Balantidium coli infection in fifty six mammalian species. J. Vet. Med. Sci. 61, 63–65. Partani, A.K., Kumar, D., Bhan, A.K., 1998. Prevalence of Balantidium coli infection in camels at Bikaner, Rajasthan. J. Vet. Parasitol. 12, 118– 121. Patil, N.A., Udupa, K.G., Kumar, S.P., 1998. Prevalence, clinical symptoms and treatment of balantidiosis in buffaloes. Buffalo Bull. 17, 61–64. Smith, D.S., 2003. Parasites and Pestilence: Infectious Public Health Challenges. http//:www.stanford.edu/class/humanbiol03/ParaSites2003/ Balantidium. Soulsby, E.J.L., 1982. Helminths, Arthropods and Protozoa of Domestic Animals. Bailliere Tindall, London, UK, pp. 765–766. Tarrar, M.A., Khan, M.S., Pervez, K., Ashraf, K., Khan, J.A., Rehman, Z.U., 2008. Detection and chemotherapy of Balantidium coli in buffaloes around Lahore, Pakistan. Pak. J. Agric. Sci. 45, 163–166. Varady, M., Konigova, A., Corba, J., 2004. A field study to evaluate the efficacy of fenbendazole on 9 stud farms. Vet. Med. Czech. 49, 42–46.