Epidemiology of endoparasites of small ruminants in sub-Saharan Africa

Gastrointestinal nematodes, lungworms, and liver flukes are prominent endoparasites of small ruminants in different ecological zones of the sub-Saharan Africa. The high transmission and high occurence of Haemonchus contortus, Oesophagostomum columbianum, Trichostrongylus sp., Cooperia sp. strongyloides papilosus and Trichuris ovis in the wet season make them more important in the humid, sub-humid and mid-altitude highlands of Africa. Trichostrongylus colubriformis and the lungworm Dictyocaulus filaria are also important in the high altitudes of Ethiopia, although H. contortus and others also exist. Fasciola gigantica in the humid, sub-humid, and mid-altitude highlands and F. hepatica in the Ethiopian highlands are the major causes of fascioliasis in the dry season.