Comparison of Two Parasitological Tests and Post Mortem Examination to Detect Prevalence of Bovine Fasciolosis at Ambo Town Municipal Abattoir, West Shewa Zone, Ethiopia

A cross sectional study was conducted from March 5, 2013 to June 28, 2013 in Ambo town municipal abattoir to assess prevalence of bovine fasciolosis and compare tests used for bovine fasciolosis. Direct smear, sedimentation and post mortem examination were the tests used for comparison. Post mortem examination was considered as gold standard test. Data were collected by using primary data at the abattoir; Kappa (K) and percentage were utilized to assess agreement of tests and prevalence, respectively. A total of 60 fecal samples were collected from cattle brought to the abattoir for direct smear and sedimentation techniques. Adult Fasciola were detected from slaughtered cattle at the abattoir. An overall prevalence of 21.66% (13 of 60), 18.33% (11 of 60) and 13.3% (8 of 60) were obtained by post mortem examination, sedimentation and direct smear techniques, respectively. At species level, 69.23% (9 of 13 positive cases) Fasciola hepatica and 84.62% (11 of 13 positive cases) Fasciola gigantica prevalence were observed. From 13 positive samples, 7 (53.85%) were mixed. Sedimentation showed higher agreement with post mortem examination (K = 0.896) than direct smear with post mortem examination (K = 0.715). The specificity of direct smear, sedimentation and post mortem examination were 61.53%, 84.6% and 100%, respectively. In conclusion, presence high prevalence of mixed infestation indicated that presence of suitable ecology for both Fasciola species and sedimentation were considered as better test than direct smear. Therefore, control strategies and utilization of sedimentation technique to detect Fasciola egg for samples collected from live animals were recommended.