ABSTRACT: Toxocara (T) vitulorum is a nematode, which residues in the small intestines o

Abdul Basit

Hafiz Allah Bachaya

Hafiz Muhammad Arshad

Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Asif Raza

Muhammad Imran Khan

Muhammad Mazhar Ayaz

Saeed Murtaza

Saleem Akhtar

CiteSeerX

Sci.Int(Lahore),25(2),291-294,2013 ISSN 1013-5316; CODEN: SINTE 8  291 
TOXOCARA VITULORUM INFESTATION AND ASSOCIATED 
RISK FACTORS IN CATTLE AND BUFFALO AT MULTAN 
DISTRICT, PAKISTAN 
Muhammad Asif Raza
*
, Saeed Murtaza
1
, Muhammad Mazhar Ayaz
1
, Saleem Akhtar
1
,  
Hafiz Muhammad Arshad
1
, Abdul Basit
1
, Hafiz Allah Bachaya
2
, Muhammad Ali
1
 and  
Muhammad Imran Khan
3 
Animal Husbandry in Tropics and Subtropics, University of Kassel, Germany/ University of Agriculture, 
Faisalabad, Pakistan 
1Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan 
2Livestock & Dairy Development Department, Government of Punjab, Pakistan 
3Department of Pharmacy, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan 
*Corresponding author’s e-mails: asifrazarana@yahoo.com, asif-raza@icdd.uni-kassel.de 
ABSTRACT: Toxocara (T) vitulorum is a nematode, which residues in the small intestines of Bubalus 
and Bos species. The present study was conducted from January to March 2008 in Multan district, 
Pakistan  to determine the prevalence of T. vitulorum in cattle and buffalo in relation with species, age 
and sex of the host. Small intestines of (n=282) buffalo were examined (n=180) were found positive 
and prevalence of T. vitulorum was recorded as 63.83% while intestines of cattle found positive (n=54) 
out of (n=144) and its prevalence was 37.50%. The data was analyzed statistically by using Chi-
square and there was a significant difference (P<0.01) in buffalo and cattle indicating that prevalence 
of T. vitulorum is species dependent.  Cattle and buffalo were divided into three different age groups. 
In group A, cattle and buffalo were ≥1 year of age, in group B between 1-5 years of age and in group 
C ≤5 years of age. Prevalence of T. vitulorum was 72.09% (186/258) in group A, 18.18% (12/66) in 
group B while 35.29% (36/102) in group C. The results demonstrated the dependence of prevalence on 
age.  While sex wise prevalence of T. vitulorum was recorded as 39.46% (90/228) in male and 72.72% 
(144/198) in female, and the  results were highly significant (X2 15.77787, P<0.01) indicating that 
prevalence T. vitulorum is sex dependent. 
Key words: Prevalence, Toxocara vitulorum, abattoir, Buffalo, Cattle, age, sex 
INTRODUCTION 
Toxocara (T) vitulorum, a nematode (round worm) of 
Bubalus and Bos species, founds mostly in tropical and 
subtropical climates throughout the world [1]. Its adults 
are 15-30 cm in length and residues in small intestines of 
the host [2, 3]. It mostly transmitted transplacentally and 
transclostral to calves while infection by water or feed is 
very rare [4, 5]. Calves start to shed eggs in their feces at 
16- 23 days of age. The eggs that are shed in feces contain 
L1 stage larvae that develop into L3 larvae in 2-4 weeks. 
Eggs containing L3 do not hatch in the environment until 
they are ingested [2]. Larvae ingested by calves develop 
into adults in 3–4 weeks, and then begin shedding eggs in 
the feces [6]. A remarkable fact about T. vitulorum is that 
the adult worms are encountered principally in suckling 
calves. The dam sheds no T. vitulorum eggs even though 
she is the source of infection to the calves. This is because 
the larvae in the dam do not develop to adults but remain 
in third stage. When the cow is pregnant the larvae 
migrate from the liver to the mammary gland and prior to 
parturition, to the milk through which the calf is infected 
[2] Toxocara vitulorum is among the most destructive 
parasites of young ruminants because buffalo and bovine 
calves are the definitive hosts for T. vitulorum. An adult 
female T. vitulorum produces thousands of eggs daily. Egg 
fecundity ranges from 8000 to 100,000 eggs per gram 
(EPG) feces per day [2, 7]. These eggs pass out in the 
feces and under favorable conditions like adequate 
moisture and warm temperature support to become 
infective in two to three weeks. A thick protective shell of 
eggs provides resistance against adverse environmental 
conditions such as chemical and physical insult, enabling 
eggs to remain infective for many years [8]. Consequently, 
infective eggs are abundant on pastures and other places 
that are contaminated with calf feces. When a host ingests 
infective stage eggs, the larvae hatch out in the intestinal 
tract and migrate to the liver, lungs and other tissues [9]. 
The larvae of T. vitulorum undergo migration that inflicts 
great damage to many organs, especially to the liver and 
the intestine. It is responsible for 11 to 50% mortality in 
calves of cattle and buffalo [10, 11]. Common clinical 
findings observed in infected calves include anorexia, 
abdominal pain, diarrhea or constipation, dehydration, 
weight loss or poor weight gain, and a butyric odor on the 
breath [7]. Uncommon squeal include intestinal 
obstruction or perforation and intussusceptions. Coughing 
has been described in experimentally infected calves. A 
significant number of infections are fatal. In adult cattle 
and buffalo, moderate experimental infections, probably 
comparable to natural infections, are asymptomatic. 
Ingestion of large number of eggs results in fever, diarrhea 
and coughing, while very large doses have resulted in 
paralysis, conjunctivitis and opisthotonos [12]. As 
Pakistan is located in the semi tropic zone so such type 
environment is conducive for T. vitulorum. This is one of 
the most common and economically significant problems 
of grazing animals. Unfortunately a little information is 
available about the infection rate and intensity of T. 
vitulorum in cattle and buffalo. The present study is an 
 ISSN 1013-5316; CODEN: SINTE 8 Sci.Int(Lahore),25(2),291-294,2013 292 
Table I. Overall species wise prevalence of Toxocara vitolorum 
Species Infected animal (n) Non-infected animal (n) Infected animal (%) 
Buffalo 180 102 63.83% 
Cattle 54 90 37.50% 
X2 = 8.897696, (P<0.01) 
Table II. Species and Sex wise prevalence of Toxocara vitulorum in cattle and buffalo 
Animal species 
Male animals Female animals 
Infected 
animal (n) 
Non-infected 
animal (n) 
Infected 
animal (%) 
Infected 
animal (n) 
Non-infected 
animal (n) 
Infected 
animal (%) 
Buffalo 69 75 47.92% 111 27 80.43% 
Cattle 21 63 25% 33 27 55% 
X2 = 8.897696, (P<0.01) 
  
Table III. Sex wise prevalence of Toxocara vitulorum 
Sex 
Infected 
animal (n) 
Non-infected 
animal (n) 
Infected 
animal (%) 
Male 93 136 34.46% 
Female 141 54 71.72% 
X2 15.77787, (P<0.01) 
Table IV. Age wise prevalence of Toxocara vitulorum 
Age groups Infected 
animal (n) 
Non-infected 
animal (n) 
Infected 
animal (%) 
< 1 year 183 70 70.09% 
years 14 51 16.18% 
> 5 year 35 63 32.29% 
X2 = 1 
abattoir based research focusing on the effect of sex and 
age of the host on the prevelence of T. vitulorum in large 
ruminants. 
MATERIALS AND METHODS 
Gastro-Intestine Tract (GIT) of 426 large ruminants 
(Cattle and Buffalo) slaughtered at Multan abattoir was 
examined from January to March 2008 for the presence of 
adult T. vitulorum (Fig 1). Animals were divided into 
various groups on the basis of age. In group A, cattle and 
buffalo were ≥1 year of age, in group B between 1-5 years 
of age and in group C ≤5 years of age (Fig 2). Among 
these animals (n=426), cattle (n=144) comprising of 84 
males and 60 females while buffaloes (n=282) comprising 
of 144 males and 138 females (Fig 3). The worms were 
collected with the help of forceps and put into normal 
saline, then, transferred into wide mouthed screw capped 
glass bottle containing 10% formalin as preservative [13]. 
The bottles were properly labeled with necessary 
information about animals (species, age, sex etc). The 
adult worms were identified based on the characteristics 
given by Soulsby [14]. In order to see the magnitude of 
difference in the prevalence of T. vitulorum among cattle 
and buffalo, the data were analyzed statistically by using 
Chi-square test [15]. 
RESULTS 
The study revealed that 234 animals out of 426 were 
infected with T. vitulorum and overall prevalence was 
54.93%. The small intestines of 144 cattle were examined, 
54 were positive for T. vitulorum infestation showing was 
37.50% while 180 out of 282 buffaloes were positive for 
parasite and prevalence of T. vitulorum infestation was 
63.83% (Table I).  Species wise prevalence of T. vitulorum 
infestation was 47.45% (96/144) and 80.43% (111/138) in 
male and female buffaloes, respectively. While in cattle, 
the prevalence was recorded 25% (21/84) in male animals 
and 55% (33/60) in female animals (Table II). Prevalence 
of T. vitulorum infestation in male animals was 39.46% 
(90/228) while in female was 72.72% (144/198) as shown 
in table III. 
The cattle and buffaloes were divided into three different 
age groups; group A: cattle and buffalo were ≥1 year of 
age, group B: between 1-5 years of age and in group C ≤5 
years of age (Table IV). Prevalence of T. vitulorum was 
72.09% (62/86), 18.18% (04/22) and35.29% (12/34) in 
group A, group B and in group C respectively (Table IV). 
70.983, (P<0.01) 
 
DISCUSSION 
The results of present study revealed an overall infection 
rate of T. vitulorum in large ruminants as 54.93%. These 
results are in accordance with the findings of Barbosa and 
Corea, 1989, [16]; they studied the natural parasitism of T. 
vitulorum in buffaloes in Brazil and reported it’s 
prevalence as 52.1%. Similarly research conducted in 
Pakistan [17] and reported the infection rate of T. 
vitulorum in large ruminants as 33% in Tandojam town 
and its surroundings and similar studies showing 
infestation of buffalo and cow calves with T. vitolorum has 
also been recorded as 20-22% throughout the Punjab 
province [18]. In present survey, prevalence of T. 
vitulorum was recorded to be highest in buffalo. There was 
a significant difference (P<0.01) in buffalo and cattle 
indicating that prevalence of T. vitulorum is species 
dependent [19, 20].  
The rate of helminthes infection in large ruminants varies 
from one region of the world to another. The difference in 
the prevalence of T. vitulorum among animals of two 
species was highly significant [6, 9]. The buffalo is the 
definitive host of T. vitulorum [21]; therefore, prevalence 
of T. vitulorum is more in buffalo than that of cattle as 
supported by  studies of  many researchers [20, 22 and 
23]. In this study female animals have more burden of T. 
Sci.Int(Lahore),25(2),291-294,2013 ISSN 1013-5316; CODEN: SINTE 8  293 
vitulorum (P<0.01), this observation is an agreement with 
[8, 23, 24, 25 and 26]. Higher prevalence of nematodal 
infection in female animals as compared with male 
animals might be due to lowered resistance of female 
animals on the part of their reproductive events and 
insufficient/unbalanced diet against higher needs [27, 28, 
29, 30 and 31].The higher infection in young animals then 
that in older age animals may be attributed to their lesser 
resistance or lesser exposure to different species of 
helminthes compared with the older animal. Most of the 
researchers have observed higher rate of nematode 
infection/worm burden in young animals as compared 
with old animals [31, 32, 33 and 34]. 
 
 
Fig 1: Species-wise prevalence of Toxocara vitulorum 
 
Fig 2: Sex-wise prevalence of Toxocara vitulorum 
 
 
Fig 3: Age-wise prevalence of Toxocara vitulorum 
 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
The authors are thankful to Dr. Gulam Dastager, 
Veterinary Officer / Superintendent Slaughter House, 
Multan, Dr. Rab Nawaz Kusar (ADIO), Dr. Hassan 
Farooq Kazmi, Dr. Nadeem Sial (Veterinary Officers) for 
their technical support during research.  
 
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TOXOCARA VITULORUM INFESTATION AND ASSOCIATED RISK FACTORS IN CATTLE AND BUFFALO AT MULTAN DISTRICT, PAKISTAN

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TOXOCARA VITULORUM INFESTATION AND ASSOCIATED RISK FACTORS IN CATTLE AND BUFFALO AT MULTAN DISTRICT, PAKISTAN

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