Seroprevalence of Linguatula serrata nymph infection in sheep from west of Iran

Linguatula serrata is one of the parasitic zoonoses. The adults, larval stages of the parasite live in nasal airways of canids and visceral organs of herbivors respectively. The aim of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of L. serrata nymph infection in sheep from west of Iran by indirect enzyme-linked immunosrobent assay (ELISA). Blood samples (n=1048) were taken from sheep of two province (Ilam (n= 598) and Kermanshah (n=450)) in west of Iran ( at least five different cities of each province). The collected sera were tested by ELISA using excretory-secretory antigens of L. serrata nymph and anti IgG sheep conjugate. Data were classified according to sex, ages of the animals (1-0.05). Seroprevalence was significantly increased with the increase of age, lower (12.1%) in 1-