Prevalence and Scanning Electron Microscopic Identification of Anoplocephalid Cestodes among Small Ruminants in Senegal

This study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of anoplocephalid cestodes in sheep and goats in Senegal. Intestines of 462 sheep and 48 goats were examined; 47.4% of sheep and 6.2% of goats were infected. The species identified and their prevalence were, among sheep,Avitellina centripunctata38.7%,Moniezia expansa15.4%,Stilesia globipunctata16.7%, andThysaniezia ovilla0.4%. Among goats, they wereM. expansa6.2% andT. ovilla2.1%. The prevalence of all species was not statistically different between dry and rainy seasons. The infections were single or multiple. Indeed, 56.2% of sheep were infected by a single species, 37.4% by two species, and 6.4% by three species. For goats, 66.7% were infected byM. expansaand 33.3% by bothM. expansaandT. ovilla. Scanning electron microscopic (SEM) observations of tapeworms show the general diagnosis characters of these species.