Prevalence and Histological Study of Oestrus ovis Larvae in Slaughtered Goat of Babylon City, Iraq

Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate the prevalence of larval stage Oestrus ovis conducted during the period from September 2023 to the end of March 2024 at Babylon city, Iraq. 250 goats firstly were examined grossly and postmortem by longitudinally cutting with a manual saw, secondly, the collected larvae (45) were examined microscopically to measure its length and overall morphology. The total infestation rate was 26% (65/250). The highest rate of infestation was in female which was 44/150 (29.3%) while in male the infestation rate was 21/100(21%). The rate of infestation increases with the progression age of animal, older adult (over three years) was more susceptible to infestation was recorded 30/85(35.3%), while 17% (14/80) were in ages less than one year. Therefore, it showed a highly significant difference at (P<0.01). Furthermore, the histopathological sections of nasal cavity showed that Numerous mucous glands, thickening of epithelium, hyperplasia of blood vessels and severe Infiltration of inflammatory in goat infected with O.ovis larvae. In contrast, the uninfected goat showed moderate inflammatory cell infiltration in mucosal layer of nasal cavity and several dense glandular aggregates encircled by a dense network of elastic fibers. In conclusion, this study shows the important of O. ovis that infect goat in Babylon city, Iraq. Moreover, the morphology of all larval stage is similar except their measurement, color, and the shape of respiratory spiracles.