Fascioliasis among live and slaugthered animals in nine centers of Dakahlia Governorate.

Fascioliasis is an important zoonotic disease. Infected animals are the main source for human fascioliasis. Consequently, this work clarifies the status of animal fascioliasis in Dakahlia centers based on parasitological examination of cows, buffaloes, sheep and goats. The overall rates of infection were 12.31%, 9.73%, 17.84% and 5.40% respectively. The mean eggs per gram stool were 22, 13.6, 148.3 and 8.6 for cows, buffaloes, sheep and goats. The mean numbers of Fasciola worms/liver/animal were 69.1, 62.7 and 208.1 for cows, buffaloes and sheep respectively. The highly infected sheep was in Manzalla (23.07%), the lowest was in Mataria (6.35%). The highly infected cows was in Manzalla (20.9%), the lowest was in Sherbeen (9.43%). The highly infected buffaloes was in Manzalla (19.29%), the lowest was in Mit Ghamr (4.93%). The relatively highly infected goats was in Manzalla (12.5%) and the lowest was zero in Mit Ghamr. So, sheep are the main reservoir host for environmental pollution and human fascioliasis. On the other hand, the overall partial condemnation of liver was 3.81% (1997), 3.24% (1998), 2.66% (1999) and 2.64% (2000). Regarding the type of animal, it was 6.38% in cows, 1.74% in buffaloes and 1.0% in sheep. It seems that sheep are most susceptible to fascioliasis treatment, followed by buffaloes and lastly cows. The epidemiological role of these farm animals as source for fascioliasis infection to animals and man was discussed.