DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

PRELIMINARY RESULTS (On-going study)

Prevalence and burden of gastro-intestinal helminths in small scale chicken flocks in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam

• Small household poultry farms are very common in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam.

• Birds are not often fully confined, and standards of hygiene, cleaning and disinfection are deficient in these systems, leading to severe exposure to parasitic infestations.

• These are associated with considerable economic losses to the producers as well as increased susceptibility to disease.

• No data on the burden of parasitic infestations in the area.

• To investigate the prevalence and burden of infestation of gastrointestinal helminths (nematodes and cestodes) in small scale (100-2,000) meat chicken flocks in Dong Thap province (Mekong Delta of Vietnam).

• To investigate risk factors associated with parasitic infestations.

Van Nguyen Thi Bich1, Nhi Nguyen Thi Hong2, Nhan Pham Trong2, Cuong Nguyen Van1, Kiet Bach Tuan2, Hoang Nguyen Van2, Hien Vo Be2, Juan Carrique-Mas1,3, Alexis Ribas Salvador4 1Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; 2Sub-Department of Animal Health, Dong Thap Province, Cao Lanh, Vietnam; 3Nuffield Department of Medicine, Oxford University; 4Unit of Parasitology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Barcelona, Spain.

Authors BACKGROUND

AIMS

METHODS

Acknowledgments Sub-department of Animal Health and Production of Dong Thap province, Vietnam. Wellcome Trust for funding (Grant No. 110085/Z/15/Z).

Remove the gastrointestinal tract

Expose the separate parts of the gastro-intestinal tract

Place in water plastic container, shake vigorously and filtrate liquid contents by sieve

Transfer sieve content to petri dish

• 90 chicken flocks will be recruited as part of the ViParc project (www.viparc.org).

• Full necropsy of the gastro-intestinal package at the end of the production cycle .

Figure 1. Distribution of farms by their gastrointestinal helminth counts.

Figure 2. Association between helminth counts and chicken weight.

Table 1. Descriptive variables of study farms.

Table 2. Univariable risk factor analysis.

Observe and count helminths under microscope Nematodes Cestodes

• Levels of parasitic infections are high in small poultry farms in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam.

• Parasitic infestation associated with chicken weight causing considerable damage and great economic loss to the farmers.

• The larger are the farms, the more they are able to be infected with parasitic worms, this should be confirmed once larger farms (500 to 1000 chickens) and smaller (100 to 274) will be included in our ongoing study.

• Necessary preventive and control measures should be implemented strictly by poultry producers of the region.

Viparc poultry farms

• Helminths were detected in 17/28 (61%) flocks (median 10 [IQR 0 – 96]).

• 6 (35.3%) had nematodes + cestodes; 11 (64.7%) had nematodes.

• Potential association between helminth counts and chicken weight at slaughter.

Variables β 95% CI P-value

Number of chickens 1.09 -0.11 – 2.28 0.07

Antihelminthic used 0.08 -1.63 – 1.79 0.92

Density (chicken/m2) -0.02 -0.09 – 0.05 0.57

Experience (Years) -0.02 -0.60 – 0.56 0.94

Sex (Male) -0.06 -2.29 – 2.16 0.95

Type of floors (Baseline=Concrete)

Soil/ earth 0.37 -1.66 – 2.41 0.71

Other types -0.55 -3.70 – 2.60 0.72

Dong Thap

Variables N (%) Median IQR

Number of chickens 306 275 – 500

Antihelminthic used 13 (46.4%)

Density (chicken/m2) 21.3 14.5 – 29.9

Experience (Years) 2.3 2.0 – 3.0

Sex (Male) 23 (82.1%)

Types of floor

Concrete 7 (25.0%)

Soil/ earth 18 (64.3%)

Other types 3 (10.7%)

1. Gizzard & Proventriculus 2. Small intestine 3. Ceca

www.viparc.org www.oucru.org