A survey on Ornithobilharzia turkestanicum (Skrjabin, 1913) infection in sheep of Mazandaran province, Iran, using flotation method

Ornithobilharziosis، as one of the parasitic infections، may give rise to serious economic problems in animal husbandry. The objective of the present study was determining prevalence of Ornithobilharzia turkestanium in sheep in the Mazandaran province and identify snails which could be responsible for transmission of infection animals from 2005 to 2010. A total of 900 faecal from 900 sheep herds were collected randomly and examined using Clayton lane technique. Faecal specimens were studied 15% were seen to be infected with Ornithobilharzia turkestanium. Most of the infected sheep were grown in Babolsar (Firoozabad، Hasanabad، Ghaemieh and Motahari places)، Behshahr (Kalak & Lalehmarz places) and Behnamir mean while، 1200 snail samples were collected from these areas. These snails were identified as Planorbis (60%)، Lymnaea gedrosiana (10%)، Succinia spp. (4%) and physa spp. (26%).