The epidemiology of physocephalosis in camel in the united arab emirates

During a 4 year observation period (2013–2016), a total of 622 stomach of adult and young camels were examined for the presence of the stomach worm, Physocephalus dromedarii. The highest percentage of positive cases (26.7%) with burdens between 1 and more than 3, 000 nematodes were found in dromedaries of a Dubai camel dairy farm that previously had imported camels from Sudan, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. The overall prevalence of the parasite in camels from other farms in Dubai and Abu Dhabi added up to only 4.6% and 2.0%, respectively. Only one of the camels examined from other emirates were found infected. It is believed that P. dromedarii was introduced to the UAE with dromedaries from abroad. However, all positive animals were long term residents on the dairy farm or were born there. Scarab beetles serve as intermediate hosts and small vertebrates can be included in the life cycle as paratenic hosts.