Field Sceening of of Fasciola hepatica Seroprevalence in Sheep by Indirect ELISA in East Azarbaijan Province

Fascioliasis is one of the most important zoonotic diseases among human beings and animals causing considerable economic losses in livestock. East Azerbaijan province is an important animal rearing district of Iran. There were several abattoir surveys in this province; however, a field study on seroprevalence of fascioliasis has not been performed. Therefore, this investigation was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of Fasciola hepatica infection in sheep using an indirect ELISA in East Azerbaijan province. In this study, Cochran's formula was used to determine the sample size. A total of 320 blood samples were taken from 2600000 head of sheep in northern, central and southern regions and then all of samples were examined for detecting F. hepatica antibodies. Our results indicated that the seroprevalence of F. hepatica in sheep in different regions of East Azerbaijan province was 9.7%. The prevalence of F. hepatica infection in male and female sheep was 10% and 9.66%, respectively. The highest prevalence (10.13%) was seen in adult sheep (≤2 years old). The prevalence rates in northern, central and southern regions were 6.63%, 9% and 13.64%, respectively. There was no significant differences between seroprevalence and all variables (P>0.05). Our findings indicate the current status of F. hepatica infection in sheep in East Azerbaijan province and it can be used for further investigations on the importance of this parasite in Iran and the studied regions.