Prevalenceof Major Skin Problems and Its Associated Risk Factors in Sheep and Goats at Veterinary Teaching Hospital of Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, East Shoa, Bishoftu, Ethiopia

A cross sectional study was conducted at Veterinary Teaching Hospital of Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Bishoftu, from November, 2015 to April, 2016. It was aimed to determine the prevalence of major skin diseases and its associated risk factors in sheep and goats. A total of 384 small ruminants;  sheep (n=252) and goats (n=132) were included in the study. The overall prevalence of skin diseases in sheep and goats were 21.4% and 17.4%, respectively. The prevalence of major skin diseases was 57.4%, 31.5%, 5.6% and 5.6% for ectoparasites, viral, bacterial and mixed infection in sheep, respectively. While 47.8% and 52.2% were prevalence of ectoparasites and viral diseases in goats, respectively. The result shows that prevalence of ectoparasites (57.4%) and (52.2%) was the most prevalent diseases in sheep and goats, respectively and followed by viral diseases. Major ectoparasites identified were: tick (24.07% and 13.04%), lice (11.1%), mange mite (3.7% and 13%) and fleas (5. 6 and 21.7%) and the other skin diseases identified were: pox virus disease (11.1% and 30.4%), contagious ecthyma/orf (20.4% and 21.7%) and dermatophilosis (5.6%) in sheep and goats, respectively. Higher prevalence of skin diseases was recorded in sheep (21.4%) than in goats (17.4%) and showed significant difference in prevalence of major skin diseases between species of animals (P<0.05, OR=1.35, CI=1.7-2.3). The prevalence of disease was also observed in sex and was relatively higher in male (22.3%) as compared to female (18.6%) with statistically significant difference (P<0.05, OR=1.5, CI=1.91-2.64) between sex groups. It was higher in young (23.2%) than in adults (18.9%) and prevalence of the diseases was higher in poor body conditioned (34%) as compared with medium and good ones. There was statistically significant difference in prevalence of major skin diseases among body condition of animals (P<0.05, OR=1.5, CI=1.91-2.64). However, the prevalence of skin diseases of sheep and goats was moderate in this study area, further investigation of incidence of skin diseases should be warranted in order to design cost effective control measures.