Resumen

QUIJADA P, Jéssica et al. Distribución y Abundancia de los Huevos de Estróngilos Digestivos en Ovinos de Diferentes Grupos Etarios Naturalmente Infectados. Revista de la Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias [online]. 2005, vol.46, n.1, pp.9-16. ISSN 0258-6576.

Ovine gastrointestinal helmintosis, specially strongylidosis, is one of the main limitants in this animal specie production, due to serious organics alterations it produces in the hosts and to high cost of treatment and control. In order to determine how digestive strongyles natural infections are distributed in an Aragua’s state ovine herd,  infection prevalence and parasitic burden were assesed. A total of 70 ovines, grouped by age Group 1= preweaning lambs (n=5); Group 2= weaning lambs (n=26); Group 3= ewes (n=36); Group 4= rams (n=3), were examinated by the Mc Master technique every month within the period of June-November 2003. Prevalence of digestive strongyles infections were always high, independently of age group (p< 0.05). There was not relation between parasitic burdens and animals’ age (p>0.05) by c² test. Infections shown an overdispersed distribution pattern within examinated animals, confirmed by low K values (K= 0.10-0.36); egg per gram of feces (EPG) average were mostly affected by the number of high burden animals´ rather than by the total number of infected animals in each month. Most infections were not clinically relevant. High parasitic burden represented a low percentage within each group (5.56-13.3%). 

Palabras clave : Sheep; strongylus; digestive system; statistics; Aragua.