| dc.description.abstract | A cross sectional study was carried out to understand the epidemiology of helminthic infestation in goat kids in Kanungu district, Kambuga Sub County. Fecal samples were collected from a total of 106 goat kids’ of less than 6 months from 21 purposively selected farms. Fecal sedimentation and simple floatation techniques were used to analyze the samples for helminths parasites. A questionnaire was used to gather information about the risk factors associated with helminths infestation in goat kids. The study revealed that the prevalence at individual level and at herd level was 83%and 95.2% respectively. Trichostrongylus spp (63.2%) had the highest prevalence while the least prevalent was trichuris spp (0.9%) and oesophagostomum spp (0.9%). At herd level, the prevalence of Trichostrogylus spp (95.2%), followed by Heamonchus spp (85.7%) and Nematodirus spp (81%) were high. The least prevalence was seen in Trichuris spp and Oesophagostomum spp. The study also revealed that sex of the kids greatly influenced helminths infestation as a statistically significant difference (p=0.049) was found between sex of the kids. Highly significant (p<0.05) relationships were recorded between age, sex and breed wise variations with helminths. However, there was no statistically significant difference observed (p>0.05) in the prevalence with marital status, hygiene and grazing system. Due to the high prevalence of helminths parasites in goat kids from the study area, it is recommended that farmers should practice routine worm control. Knowledge concerning Helminths biology and epidemiological Infestation patterns caused by these parasites is essential in the development of appropriate control strategies and this has a potential to reduce production losses. | en_US |
