An Epidemiological Status of Prevailing Diseases in Livestock Population of District Quetta, Pakistan

Background: Livestock population is affected by various infectious and non-infectious diseases which can lead to huge economic losses to the farmers in terms of reduced growth, production performance and mortality.

Aims: To investigate the prevalence of infectious and non-infectious diseases of livestock in Quetta, the northwestern district of Balochistan province of Pakistan.

Place and Duration of the Study: Study was conducted in District Office of Livestock & Dairy Development Department Quetta between February and March, 2017.

Methodology: Clinical cases reported at fifteen different veterinary hospitals and dispensaries of District Quetta from January 2015 to December 2016 was used for this study. Diagnosis of disease was made on the basis of owner’s statement, general examination, clinical signs, postmortem findings and/or laboratory results which were extracted from the clinic record books. Data was analyzed to determine prevalence disease in livestock population with respect to specie and season.

Results: Diagnosed diseases were grouped into six major categories i.e. endo-parasitic, ecto-parasitic infestations, metabolic, systemic, non-contagious and infectious/other diseases. The statistical analysis of the pooled data for two years shows that the parasitic infestation was the main problem (70%) followed by infectious / other and non-contagious diseases (12% each), systemic and metabolic diseases (3% each). A significant effect (P<0.05) of livestock species was found on the incidence of lung worm, wireworm, liver fluke, mange and tick infestation. Statistically significant (P<0.05) effect of livestock species was also noticed on the incidence of non-contagious, metabolic, systemic and infectious diseases as well.

Conclusions: This study provides valuable insight to design and implement priority based research on specific diseases. Further studies are needed to see the effect of these diseases on economics of farms, wholesomeness of available livestock and their by-products. Various diseases including parasitic infestation may have their zoonotic effects accompanied with their detrimental effects on animal productivity. Zoonotic nature of these diseases makes it vital to investigate the species of parasites, communicable to human being and devise strategies to counter them.