Prevalence of gastrointestinal helminthes in hot and humid zone of West Bengal

A survey was carried out to find out the prevalence of gastrointestinal helminthes in cattle in hot and humid zone of West Bengal in respect of breed, management conditions, age of animal and season. A total of 1097 faecal samples were collected from 52 villages of Amta and surrounding blocks of West Bengal and examined during the period from April 2002 to October 2005. The overall infection rate was 76.17% and in cross-bred cattle the infection rate was 72.55% and in non-descript cattle it was 80.65%. the infection rate was significantly lower (70.34%) in stallfed animals than the animals which were managed semi-intensively (82.14%). Age wise infection rate was 77.38%, 81.43% and 70.45% in animals below 1 year, within 1–3 year and above 3 years of age, respectively. Highest infection rate was observed during summer season (88.24%) followed by rainy season (82.76%), spring season (80.00%), and autumn (72.73%). The infection rate was significantly (P<0.05) lower in winter months (60.0%). Prevalence of strongyle infection was the highest (64.04%) followed by amphistome (53.02%), Schistomosa spp. (7.85%), Ascaris spp. (6.01%), Strongyloides spp. (5.23%), Trichuris spp. (2.15%), cestode (1.56%) and Fasciola spp. (0.89%). The intermediate host (fresh water snail) for trematode infection was also surveyed and Indoplanorbis exustus, Lymnaea auricularia and Melanoides spp. were identified as predominant snail.