PREVALENCE OF TRICHOMONIASIS IN DOMESTIC AND WILD
PIGEONS AND ITS EFFECTS ON HEMATOLOGICAL PARAMETERS
M. H. SALEEM, M. S. KHAN, A. S. CHAUDRY AND H. A.
SAMAD
University
of Veterinary and Animal Science, Lahore,
Pakistan
Abstract
The
present study was conducted to determine the prevalence of trichomoniasis and its effect on some blood parameters in pigeons. A
total of 100 samples from the pigeons (50 wild and 50 domestic) were
collected during the months of March and April 2005. Higher prevalence
(P<0.05) was recorded in wild pigeons (60%) than in domestic pigeon
(26%). The overall prevalence recorded was 43%, being non significantly
higher in April (56%) than in March (30%). In infected pigeons, there
was significant (P<0.05) decrease in hemoglobin concentration number of
monocytes packed cell volume, body weight, than healthy birds. Likewise,
the values of total leukocyte count, lymphocyte and eosinophils were
higher significantly (P<0.05) in infected pigeons than the healthy ones.
While, no significant difference was observed for hetrophils count when
infected and healthy birds were compared. It was concluded that
trichomonad infection is quite common in wild, as well as in domestic,
pigeons under the prevailing cage system.