Prevalence of Ovine Ectoparasites in and Around Ambo Town, Ethiopia

A cross sectional study was carried out from November 2011 to March 2012 with the objectives of determining the prevalence and potential risk factors associated with ecto-parasites of sheep and to assess the effects of ectoparasites on the skin in and around Ambo. A total of 450 sheep were used to study the prevalence of ectoparasites on live animals. The result obtained from live sheep demonstrates 53.1% of sheep were infested with one or more ectoparasites. The major ectoparasites identified on sheep were lice (24.0%), tick infestations (19.2%), Fleas (10.3%). The most prevalent species of lice was Damalina ovis with an overall prevalence of 18.0% while Linognathus spp was only 5.8%. Out of ticks the most prevalent genus was Boophilus with a prevalence of 9.1% followed by genus Amblyomma and Hylomma with a prevalence of 5.3% and 2.9%, respectively finally genus Rhipicephalus with prevalence of 1.8%. The least prevalent ectoparasites were fleas with prevalence of 10.2%. There was no significant difference in the overall prevalence of lice, ticks and fleas (P>0.05). The overall infestation with ectoparasites was high in the males (64%) than females (47.9%). Comparison of overall ectoparasites infestation rate between sex groups has shown no significant variation (P>0.05). Analysis in the overall occurrence of ectoparasites had revealed statistically significant difference (P<0.05) in prevalence on sex for fleas. Overall ectoparasites prevalence were higher in the adults (53.5%) than young (52.6%) and also higher in good body condition (55.5%) than poor body condition (55.1%), however, no significance variation (p>0.05) was observed in prevalence of ectoparasites in age and body condition groups. From the result of this study it is possible to conclude that ectoparasites infestation has significant draw back in the production of sheep at the study area.