Visceral schistosomosis in a sheep flock of Chhattisgarh

Schistosomosis is a chronic and debilitating parasitic infection of ruminants that often remains unnoticed and undetected leading to financial losses to farmers. The present investigation places on record an outbreak of visceral schistosomosis in a flock of 104 non-descript sheep from Kabirdham district (Chhattisgarh) in July 2021. Affected sheep showed diarrhoea and gradual emaciation. On the basis of coprological examination, the study revealed 38.46% (40/104) incidence of mixed infection of Schistosoma indicum and strongyle, 32.69% (34/104) of S. indicum and amphistomes and 28.85% (30/104) of S. indicum, strongyle and amphistomes. The case history showed that sheep were taken to a nearby pond for drinking water that was infested with Indoplanorbis exustus, the intermediate host of S. indicum. All the affected 104 animals were treated with a combination of praziquantel and fenbendazole (®Fentas Plus, Intas Animal Health, Ahmedabad; @ 1 ml / 3 kg body weight, orally) twice at an interval of 21 days with supportive therapy (®Bioboost, Lyka Exports Ltd. @ 1 bolus and ®Zigbo, Natural Remedies @10 ml daily for five days). All the treated animals showed recovery and no death was observed. Thus, visceral schistosomosis in sheep can be therapeutically managed by treatment with praziquantel.