Evaluation of Disease Conditions Encountered at Slaughter in Ogbomoso Central Abattoir, Oyo State

Diseases in animals not only constitute health challenges in man but are also a major source of economic losses. Hence, the proper identification, understanding, management and documentation of diseases prevalent in animal husbandry would go a long way in controlling the dissemination of zoonotic diseases and reduce the financial implication on the economy as aimed by this survey. An abattoir survey to determine the prevalence of zoonotic diseases encountered amongst animals slaughtered was conducted between January, 2014 and December, 2016 at the Oja-tuntun slaughter slab in Ogbomoso town. Data retrieved was analyzed and results presented as tables and figures were appropriate. A total of thirteen thousand, one hundred and seventy-two (13,172) animals were examined and slaughtered from which 11,903 (90.4%) were bovine and 1,269 (9.6%) were caprine. The multi-year study indicated the following incident of abattoir identified diseases and conditions: pneumonia (22.8%), tuberculosis (25.3%) and fascioliasis (34.0%); pimply-gut (14.2%), pneumonia (29.7%) and fascioliasis (43.2%); pimply-gut (18.1%), tuberculosis (27.7%) and fascioliasis (28.4%) as the most prevalent diseases in the years 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively. The survey also revealed a significant (p<0.05) higher rate of occurrence of fascioliasis than the other diseases amongst animals slaughtered. In line with these findings, there is a need for the veterinary and public health officers in slaughterhouses to be more vigilant in the identification of diseased animals; prevention and control of zoonotic diseases as well as the need for the government to establish a well-defined compensation plan for the affected farmers.