OBSERVATIONS ON NORMAL WORM BURDEN OF
            GOATS FROM CERTAIN DISTRICTS IN THE
                              UNITED PROVINCES

                                             BY

                     P. G. PANDE, M.Sc., M.R.C.V.S.

Veterinary Investigation Officer, United Provinces, Lucknow

            (Received for publication on 1 September 1941)

DURING recent years, it may be said that considerable advance has been
made on the taxonomic study of different species of helminth parasites
[Bhalerao, 1940 and Thapar, 1939] found in goats in the United Provinces.
Though important, such studies have given little indication of the frequency
and intensity of infestation by any one species and as such, its true significance
as a cause of disease has remained undetermined.

During the ast few years field workers in this country have come across
conditions in sheep and goats in which clinical and post-mortem findings had
suggested diagnoses of helminthiasis on the basis of preponderance in number
of one or more than one species of worms found in certain organs of the body.
Such instances in goats are acute paramphistomiasis [Sahai, 1938 ; Bawa,
1939 ; and Pande, 1939] caused by immature paramphistomes, parasitic
gastro-enteritis [Bawa, 1938] caused by Haemonchus contortus and a few other
Strongyloid worms, and parasitic pneumonia [Chadha, 1937 and Balwant
Singh, 1938] caused by Varestrongylus pneumonicus. These reports, there-
fore, clearly indicate that the pathogenicity of helminth parasites would, to
a great extent, depend upon their numerical strength, whether occurring singly
or mixed with other species in their normal habitats in the body of the host.

The necessary pre-requisite, therefore, in the diagnosis of helminthic
conditions is reliable knowledge of the normal worm burden of animals, and as
far as goats are concerned, an attempt is made in this paper to supplement
the meagre data on the frequency and intensity with which normal goats are
infested with different species of helminth parasites in certain localities in these
provinces.

                           MATERIALS AND METHODS

This survey was started in September 1940, at the Provincial Central
Laboratory, Lucknow, goats in apparently good health and required fo the
production of Goat Tissue Virus against rinderpest being utilized for the pur-
pose. These animals were purchased either from a local market or from out-
lying villages at a distance of a few miles from Lucknow. During 1941, from
May to July the work was conducted at the slaughter houses in Nainital,
Ranikhet and Mussoorie, where animals in average health as judged by general
standards were selected for the collection of parasites. In August 1941,

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