Retrospective Survey of Common Diseases of Exotic Poultry Breeds in Lagos and Ogun States, Nigeria

The importance of Poultry industries in national economies of developing countries and its role in improving the nutritional status and income of many farmers and those with small land holdings as well as landless has been recognized by various scholars and rural development agencies in the last two decades [2–4].

Epidemiological analysis and interpretation permits, better decision-making on national disease control policies and priorities. In poultry more than any other type of livestock, environmental and management factors are inextricably linked with disease as determinants of productivity. Intensive poultry production is a highly competitive business with slim profit margins. A minor failure of health control, or excessive expenditure on drugs or vaccines, can easily turn the profit on a poultry enterprise into a loss. Therefore epidemiological analysis and disease control policy plays a key role in profitable forming [6].

Nigerian weather, like other West African countries, is divided into two overlapping seasons; wet and dry seasons. The wet or rainy season comes between April and October while the dry season comes between November and March. In the actual sense, the rainy season usually commences in the middle of March and extends to July before a brief dry season in August, called 'August break' which lasts for 2 to 3 weeks, and the rainy season continues till mid- October.

The objectives of this survey include:

The survey was done by collating case records, of all walk-in customers of DSL veterinary laboratory in Lagos state, Nigeria, from 2010 to 2012. The laboratory has clients mostly from Lagos and Ogun states in Nigeria.

Disease diagnosis was based on the following: History taking, Gross pathology, Cytology, Wet mount, Bacterial isolation and identification [5].

The frequency of each disease diagnosed in the laboratory was determined.

Since the seasons are overlapping, the year is divided into April-September (wet season) and November-March (dry season) for ease of interpretation. 

The results of the collected case records are tabulated in the tables 1-3 below. Table 1 shows the actual number of cases diagnosed per each disease within each year. Table 2 shows the disease occurrence in percentages for each year. Table 3 shows the incidence of the most commonly diagnosed diseases at the lab.

Table 1: Diseases diagnosed and their frequencies between 2010 and 2012

Table 2: Diseases occurrence pattern in % between 2010 and 2012

Wet = April- September
Dry = October-March

However, the above table does not completely represent all the diseases that were diagnosed at the laboratory since some diseases are diagnosed very rarely. Such diseases include gangrenous dermatitis, malabsorption syndrome, inclusion body hepatitis, calcium-phosphorous imbalance, fowlpox, hypovitaminosis, heat stress, gout, infectious bronchitis, helminthosis and non-specific tumors

The commonly diagnosed diseases in the lab are Newcastle disease, coccidiosis & necrotic enteritis, chronic respiratory disease, colibacillosis, marek's disease and infectious bursal disease. Though the heat stress cases were few, it can be attributed to the ease of diagnosis by field staff. Table 3 shows the occurrence in percentages of these diseases while figure 1 gives the graphical representation.

Table 3: Incidence of commonly diagnosed diseases at DSL between 2010 and 2012

*= The incidence here is the total sum of all the occurrence of this disease, either singly or in combination with other diseases.

Figure 1: Graphical representation of the commonly diagnosed diseases at DSL between 2010 and 2012.

Nevertheless, the result of the survey has shown that the most prevalent diseases are Newcastle disease and coccidiosis/necrotic enteritis, whose prevalence remains high throughout the year. Closely following these is colibacillosis, especially coliperitonitis, then chronic respiratory disease.

The following recommendations are made to combat diseases that are prevalent in this geopolitical zone for,

1. F. C. Obiora, A Guide to Poultry Production in the Tropics, Acena Publishers, Enugu, Nigeria, 1st edition, 1992.

2. FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations), "Report on the expert consultation on rural poultry development in Asia, Dhaka, Bangladesh," Tech. Rep. 274415, FAO, Rome, Italy, March 1987.

3. L. E. Creevey, "Supporting small-scale enterprises for women farmers in the Sahel," Journal of International Development, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 355–386, 1991. View at Scopus

4. A. J. Kitalyi, "Village chicken Production Systems in Rural Africa. Household Food Security and Gender Issues," Animal Production and Health Paper, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nation, Rome, Italy, 1998.

5. M. R. Islam, B. C. Das, K. Hossain, N. S. Lucky and M. G. Mostafa A Study on the Occurrence of Poultry Diseases in Sylhet Region of Bangladesh Medicine and Surgery Department, Sylhet Government Veterinary College, Field Diseases Investigation Laboratory, Tilagor, Sylhet-3100, Bangladesh

6. A. James, EPIDEMIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF SERIOUS POULTRY DISEASES.Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics Research Unit, University of Reading, Department of Agriculture. FAO/OIE/WHO (1997). Animal health yearbook 1995. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.Rome.