Veterinary Parasitology 74 1998.

165172

Coccidial infections of goats in Selangor, peninsular

Malaysia
A. Jalila a , P. Dorny

b,)

, R. Sani a , N.B. Salim a , J. Vercruysse

Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, Uniersiti Pertanian Malaysia, Serdang 43400,
Selangor, Malaysia
b
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Dept. of Parasitology, Salisburylaan 133, Merelbeke, B9820, Belgium
Received 24 February 1997; accepted 13 June 1997

Abstract
Coccidial infections were studied in goats in the state of Selangor peninsular Malaysia. during
a 12-month period. The study included 10 smallholder farms on which kids were monitored for
faecal oocyst counts from birth until 1-year old. Eimeria oocysts were found in 725 89%. of 815
faecal samples examined. Nine species of Eimeria were identified. The most prevalent were E.
arloingi, found in 71% of the samples, E. ninakohlyakimoae 67%., E. christenseni 63%. and
E. alijei 61%.. The other species found were, E. hirci, E. jolchijei, E. caproina, E. caprina
and E. pallida, present in 34, 22, 12, 9 and 4% of the samples, respectively. Oocyst counts were
significantly higher in animals of less than 4-months old P - 0.05.. High oocyst counts were
mainly caused by non-pathogenic species. Poor hygienic conditions were found to be associated
with a higher intensity of coccidial infections. Mortality rates in kids could not be related to the
intensity of coccidial infections. q 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.
Keywords: Eimeria spp; Goat; Malaysia

1. Introduction
High mortality has been identified as one of the major constraints of goat production
in Malaysia Mukherjee et al., 1991.. Mortality rate can reach up to 63% in kids during
their first year of age Symoens et al., 1993.. Infectious diseases including pasteurellic
pneumonia and endo- and ectoparasitism, together with mismanagement and nutritional
deficiencies are considered to be the main reasons for these high losses Dorny et al.,
)

Corresponding author. Tel.: q60-32-9-264-74-04; fax: q60-32-9-264-74-96; e-mail: pdorny@itg.be

0304-4017r98r$19.00 q 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

PII S 0 3 0 4 - 4 0 1 7 9 7 . 0 0 1 3 3 - 7

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A. Jalila et al.r Veterinary Parasitology 74 (1998) 165172

1994, 1995; Fatimah et al., 1992; Syed, 1976; Symoens et al., 1993; Zamri-Saad et al.,
1987.. In most cases several factors were found to be involved concurrently and
cumulative pathogenic effects should be expected. Among gastrointestinal parasite
infections in Malaysian goats, strongylosis caused chiefly by Haemonchus contortus,
was shown to be of great importance, especially in young kids Daud, 1991; Dorny et
al., 1995.. Little attention has been given to the role of coccidial infections. A few
studies demonstrated the presence of different Eimeria spp. in Malaysian goats AminBabjee et al., 1990; Daud, 1991; Fatimah et al., 1989; Syed, 1976., but no attempt was
made to relate these findings to epidemiological or pathological factors. Also these
studies were done on large institutional farms and not on traditional farms on which
80% of the Malaysian goat population, estimated at 288,000, is kept Mukherjee et al.,
1991..
The present survey was aimed to identify the species currently occurring on traditional goat farms and to study patterns of infection according to age, management and
nutritional factors, and relate these findings to pathological factors.

2. Materials and methods

2.1. Study site
The study was made between December 1991 and December 1992 in the Hulu
Langat district in the state of Selangor, peninsular Malaysia, which lies between the first
and second northern parallels. The climate, without distinct seasons, is warm and humid.
Weather data pertaining to the study period were obtained from the Universiti Pertanian
Malaysia UPM. meteorological station.
2.2. Farms, animals and management
The study comprised 10 traditional goat farms. The number of animals on each farm
ranged between 12 and 60. The breeds involved were the local katjang and their crosses
at different degrees with several exotic breeds. On one farm, some pure Australian Feral
goats were kept. Animals were kept in a semi-intensive management system: they were
penned at night and in the morning in wooden sheds with raised slatted floor and
allowed to graze in the afternoon for 3 to 5 h in rubber or oil palm plantations, on road
sides or on uncultivated land. There was no particular breeding season; births were
recorded throughout the year. Following birth, kids were kept in or around the shed for 1
or 2 months, after which they followed their dams to the grazing areas. Kids were
naturally and progressively weaned from 3 months of age onwards. Feed supplementation was provided on all farms but it varied between farms: on some farms grass, weeds
and leaves were cut and given to the animals, on other farms goats were supplemented
with rice porridge, kitchen leftovers or goat concentrates. Water was usually supplied in
buckets in the shed, salt blocks were irregularly given in some of the farms. Basic health
management was practiced during the study period.

A. Jalila et al.r Veterinary Parasitology 74 (1998) 165172

167

2.3. Epidemiological surey

At the start of the study, all animals of the herds were recorded, ear tagged, weighed
and their age registered. The herds were visited at fortnightly intervals during which all
animals were identified, their health condition recorded, births, deaths, purchases and
sales recorded, all new animals ear-tagged, and rectal faecal samples collected from all
kids less than 1 year. A total of 125 kids were monitored from which 815 faecal samples
were collected during the study period. The samples were transported to the lab in a cool
box and processed on the same day.
For each farm, management and feeding system such as, number of animals, number
of kids, grazing time and type of feed supplementation was recorded. Hygiene status
was determined throughout the survey by assessing the following criteria related to the
shed: ventilation, elevation above ground level and exposure of the shed to direct
sunlight, presence of faeces in and under the shed, frequency of cleaning and space for
each animal.
2.4. Parasitological methods
Oocysts counts were done by means of a modified Mc Master technique with a
precision of 100 oocysts per gram of faeces OPG. Anonymous, 1986.. In the case of
very high counts further dilution of the faecal suspension by 10 or 100 times was done
to enable counting.
Identification of oocysts was done after sporulation at room temperature 26338C. in
a 2% potassium dichromate solution. Oocysts were concentrated by centrifugal floatation using saturated sodium chloride solution. Measurements of oocysts were done with
an ocular eyepiece, calibrated with a micrometer, under a 40 = objective. They were
identified according to the keys of Pellerdy 1974. and Anonymous 1986..
2.5. Data analysis
Faecal oocyst counts were logarithmically transformed ln count q 1.. before analysis. Mean oocyst counts are given after exponential reconversion. One way analysis of
variance, Duncan multiple range test and multiple regression procedure were used to
analyse the data. The effects of management, feeding and hygiene were analysed by step
wise multiple regression procedure. The factors were, the farm, age of kids, the number
of kids in the herd, hygiene level, feeding system, sex, breed and intensity of rainfall
rain mm. between two sampling dates.. Farms which had more than 15 kids were
considered as large and with less than 15 as small. Farms were categorized as having
good hygiene if six criteria were met, namely, sheds built more than 1 m above
ground-level, exposure to sunshine, good ventilation, regular removal of the dung from
under the shed, no overcrowding, and a clean floor. Farms were classified as having
moderate hygiene if three to five of these criteria were met, and as having poor hygiene
if less than three criteria were met.

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A. Jalila et al.r Veterinary Parasitology 74 (1998) 165172

3. Results
During the study period of 1 year, the rainfall was 2307 mm and an average relative
humidity of 96.4% was recorded. No actual dry season occurred, but only dry spells of 1
or 2 weeks. Temperature showed very little fluctuation throughout the study; average
minimum and maximum daily temperatures of 22.58C and 32.98C, respectively, were
recorded.
A total of 725 89%. of the 815 faecal samples taken during the study period were
positive for Eimeria oocysts. The prevalence was highest in young animals which also
showed higher oocyst counts. The geometric mean oocyst counts according to age are
presented in Fig. 1. A peak in mean oocyst counts was observed at the age of 1012
weeks, which coincided with the weaning period. Mean oocyst counts declined afterwards and were below 2000 after the 20th week of age. The intensity of oocyst counts
according to age groups is shown in Fig. 2. In kids under 16-weeks old, 123 34%.
faecal samples had oocyst counts between 10,000 and 100,000 and 69 19%. had counts
of over 100,000. High counts were rare in older kids. Oocyst counts of age groups
classes 216; 1832 and 3256 weeks. were significantly different P - 0.05..
Nine species of Eimeria were identified. The most prevalent were E. arloingi, found
in 71% of the samples, E. ninakohlyakimoae 67%., E. christenseni 63%. and E.
alijei 61%.. The other species found were E. hirci, E. jolchijei, E. caproina, E.
caprina and E. pallida, present in 34, 22, 12, 9 and 4% of the samples, respectively. E.
ninakohlyakimoae, the most pathogenic species, was relatively unimportant at all ages
and high oocyst counts in kids were mainly due to less pathogenic species Fig. 1..
The number of kids in the herd, the feeding system, sex, breed and the intensity of
rainfall did not affect the intensity of oocyst counts. On the other hand, the hygiene level

Fig. 1. Mean faecal oocyst counts and proportion of oocyst counts of E. ninakohlyakimoae of goats
according to age.

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169

Fig. 2. Intensity of oocyst counts in goats according to age groups.

was found to affect the intensity of the oocyst counts P - 0.05.. The overall mean
oocyst counts on each farm during the study period, the hygiene status and the mortality
during the first 150 days are presented in Table 1. Two farms were classified as having
good hygiene, seven as moderate, and one as poor. The highest overall mean oocyst
count was found in the farm of poor hygiene while the two farms with high hygienic
standards had the lowest counts. Mortality in young kids 0150 days. was very high on
all farms and ranged from 24.4% to 83.2%. Mortality rate was not affected by hygiene
status nor by the intensity of coccidial infections.

Table 1
Coccidial infections on traditional goat farms in peninsular Malaysia: relation between hygiene level, intensity
of coccidial infection and 0150 days mortality rate
Farm

Hygiene

No. of kids
monitored

Overall mean oocyst

count OPG.

Mortality rate
0150 %.

12
13
14
9
10
2
11
7
22
4

Poor
Moderate
Moderate
Moderate
Moderate
Moderate
Moderate
Moderate
Good
Good

12
6
9
31
15
11
3
12
17
8

149,043 a )
51,430 a,b
22,091a,b
17,517 a,b
10,882 b
9479 b
6265 b
6221b
127 c
62 c

40.7
24.4
37.1
47.4
35.0
33.8
83.2
30.0
57.6
58.8

Means bearing different superscripts are significantly different at P - 0.05 in Duncans multiple range test.

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A. Jalila et al.r Veterinary Parasitology 74 (1998) 165172

4. Discussion
The finding of a very high prevalence of coccidial infections in goats in this study is
in agreement with observations made in other countries where an infection rate of
8098% has been recorded Lima, 1980; Norton, 1986; OCallaghan, 1989; de la Fuente
and Alunda, 1992..
Over 13 species of coccidia have been recorded from goats from different parts of the
world Chhabra and Pandey, 1991.. In this study, nine species of Eimeria were
identified in smallholder farms in West Malaysia, among which E. jolchijei, E.
caprina and E. caproina were reported for the first time in this country. E. aspheronica E. faurei ., which was described in Malaysia by Fatimah et al. 1989., was not
found in our study.
The prevalence of coccidial infections was highest in young animals which also
showed significantly higher oocyst counts. The higher intensity of infections in kids of
616 weeks may be explained by the reduction of passive immunity provided by the
colostrum during the first weeks Taylor, 1995., by the lack of acquired immunity at this
young age, but also by the current management of keeping young kids alongside their
dams in and near the shed and thus exposing them to a higher infection level. After 16
weeks of age, the oocyst counts showed a decreasing trend indicating that acquired
immunity had developed.
The peak oocyst counts were observed around weaning. This conforms to other
observations Kanyari, 1988; Fivaz et al., 1990; Penzhorn et al., 1994.. Mortality around
weaning has been shown to be very important on Malaysian smallholder farms and has
been attributed mainly to parasitic gastroenteritis, pneumonia and mange Symoens et
al., 1993.. A possible role of coccidiosis in these mortality cases is difficult to assess.
Yvore et al. 1980. claimed that severe enteric lesions with diarrhoea and very high
oocyst counts are associated with severe coccidiosis. In our study, diarrhoea was not a
common clinical sign in kids and high oocyst counts were only rarely associated with
diarrhoea. The absence of clinical symptoms of coccidiosis may have been due to the
species involved and to the management.
E. ninakohlyakimoae is considered to be the most pathogenic species Pellerdy,
1974.. Yvore et al. 1987. associated counts of 200,000 E. ninakohlyakimoae oocysts
per gram faeces with severe diarrhoea, depression and death, while in the case of E.
arloingi counts up to 24 = 10 6 OPG were only associated with mild, transient diarrhoea.
Although E. ninakohlyakimoae in our study was widespread, differential oocyst counts
showed that the intensity of infections caused by this species was low in most cases.
Thus, high oocyst counts were mainly caused by species of lower pathogenicity and not
by E. ninakohlyakimoae.
One of the most common factors that precipitate coccidiosis is heavily contaminated
environment Schillhorn van Veen, 1986.. According to Catchpole et al. 1993., clinical
coccidiosis is mainly seen in intensive systems; in less intensive systems disease rarely
occurs because the young animals meet the parasites more gradually and are able to gain
effective immunity. A traditionally built Malaysian shed for small ruminants presents
opportunities for low levels of oocyst contamination through its elevated slatted floor,
making evacuation of faecal pellets easy. In our study the intensity of infection was

A. Jalila et al.r Veterinary Parasitology 74 (1998) 165172

171

found to be related to the hygiene level. Good hygiene reduces the transmission of
coccidia, the rate of infection and the prevalence of disease Foreyt, 1990.. Accumulation of faeces in the shed is reduced if the floor is well conceived and maintained. On
the other hand the direct environment of the shed may be heavily contaminated when the
dung is not regularly removed from under the shed. This may be a source of infection
with coccidia but also with nematodes when the animals are allowed to graze around the
shed as is often practiced for the dams with their kids.
Other factors including the number of kids in the herd, the feeding system, sex, the
breed and the intensity of rainfall did not affect the intensity of infections in the present
study. This may have been due to the absence of a breeding season in goats in Malaysia,
to the similarity of the feeding systems between the farms, and to the very small climatic
variations during the year.
Association of coccidiosis with concomitant infections such as, helminthiasis, pneumonia, mange and contagious ecthyma, and with a poor nutritional status due to
weaning without supplementation, may be responsible for the observed increase of
mortality at weaning. Hygiene was found to have a major impact on the infection level
on the farms. Keeping the floor of the shed clean and regularly removing the dung from
under the shed may drastically reduce coccidial infections.
Acknowledgements
This study was carried out within the framework of the MalaysiaBelgium Veterinary Project VI.I.R., Belgium. at the Universiti Pertanian Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor,
Malaysia. We thank Dr. C. Symoens and Mat Zaki bin Mahmud for their invaluable
help.
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