Prevalence of Haemoparasites in village chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) slaughtered at poultry markets in Maiduguri, Northeastern Nigeria

The present study on prevalence of haemoparasites in village chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) in Maiduguri comprising the Maiduguri Metropolitan Council (MMC) and Jere district of Borno State, Nigeria was done between November, 2015 and January, 2016. A total of 200 blood samples were collected from chickens of both sexes slaughtered in poultry market/dressing slabs located in Custom market and Monday market Maiduguri and transported to the teaching and research laboratory department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Maiduguri Nigeria, for analysis. Giemsa-stained thin blood smears were prepared and screened for the presence of haemoparasites. Microscopic examination of the thin blood smears revealed that thirty-four (34) of the sampled chickens were infected with at least one genus of haemoparasites, with overall prevalence of 17.0% for Haemoproteus, and/or Plasmodium spp. Result also revealed that single infection with Haemoproteus spp. shows higher prevalence (50.9%) than Plasmoduim spp. (29.4%) or mixed infection with Plasmodium spp. + Haemoproteus spp. (17.6%). There was higher sex specific prevalent rate in cock (20.5%) than in Hen (11.5%). There was also a strong association between sex and presence of haemoparasite in village chicken (χ²=3.09). However, the distribution of the haemoparasites among the sex of the host chickens was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Similarly the likelihood of getting more haemoparasite in male (cock) than in female (hen) is less (OR=0.73, and 95% CI =0.344−1.561).