College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry, JNKVV, Jabalpur, 482–001, India.
1Present address: Department of Parasitology, College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry, Jammu, J&K.
Surveillance of hepatic schistosomosis was carried out in 200 goats by employing cercarian hullen reaction (CHR) and enzyme-linked immunosordent assay (ELISA) and parasitological methods viz., faecal alkaline digestion, formal-ether, hatching method, examination of mesentery and intestinal scrapings. The ELISA, using Schistosoma incognitum cercarial antigen (5μg−1ml) and 1:1000 serum dilution detected 186 (93%) goats as positive while CHR was positive in 155 (77.5%) goats. The combined results of all parasitological methods detected 116 (58%) goats as positive for schistosomes or their eggs. Here, faecal alkaline digestion, formal-ether, hatching methods (ante-mortem methods) could diagnose only 6%, 3% and 12% positive cases whereas mesentery examination and intestinal scrapping (both post-mortem methods), enhanced the sensitivity to 34% and 58%, respectively. The dedection limits for schistosomosis differed greatly depending on the diagnostic method employed.
Cercarian hullen reaction, ELISA, Diagnosis, Faecal examination, Goat, Surveillance, Schistosomosis
