Prevalence and risk factors for gastrointestinal parasites in small-scale pig enterprises in Central and Eastern Uganda

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Date
2017Author
Roesel, Kristina
Dohoo, Ian
Baumann, Maximilian
Dione, Michel
Grace, Delia
Clausen, Peter-Henning
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In Eastern Africa, small-scale pig keeping has
emerged as a popular activity to generate additional household
income. Infections of pigs with gastrointestinal helminths can
limit production output, increase production costs, and pose
zoonotic risks. A cross-sectional, community-based study in
three districts in Eastern and Central Uganda examined the
prevalence of gastrointestinal helminthes and associated risk
factors in 932 randomly sampled pigs. Using the combined
sedimentation-flotation method, 61.4 % (58.2–64.5 %, 95 %
confidence interval [CI]) tested positive for one or more
gastrointestinal helminths, namely, strongyles (57.1 %, 95 %
CI), Metastrongylus spp. (7.6 %, 95 % CI), Ascaris suum
(5.9 %, 95 % CI), Strongyloides ransomi (4.2 %, 95 % CI),
and Trichuris suis (3.4 %, 95 % CI). Coccidia oocysts were
found in 40.7 % of all pigs sampled (37.5–44.0 %, 95 % CI).
Significant differences across the three districts were observed
for the presence of A. suum (p < 0.001), Metastrongylus spp.
(p = 0.001), S. ransomi (p = 0.002), and coccidia oocysts
(p = 0.05). All animals tested negative for Fasciola spp. and
Balantidium coli. Thirty-five variables were included in
univariable analyses with helminth infection as the outcome
of interest. A causal model was generated to identify relationships
among the potential predictors, and consequently, seven
variables with p ≤ 0.15 were included in a multivariable analysis
for helminth infection. The final regression models showed that
routine management factors had a greater impact on the prevalence
of infection than regular, preventive medical treatment or
the level of confinement. Factors that negatively correlated with
gastrointestinal infection were the routine removal of manure
and litter from pig pens (p ≤ 0.05, odds ratio [OR] = 0.667)
and the routine use of disinfectants (p ≤ 0.05, OR = 0.548).