Prevalence of gastro intestinal parasites in pigs in Punjab, India

Gastrointestinal parasites are a common problem in pigs in India. The important risk factors include coprophagic behaviour of pigs and their free access to garbage. To investigate the gastrohelmenthic spectrum in pigs of Punjab, we examined 265 faecal samples from farm (n = 47) and scavenging pigs (n = 218) using faecal floatation method. Ascaris suum, unsporulated oocysts, Trichuris spp. and Strongyloides were recorded in 27.5, 15.4, 1.8 and 4.5 % of the pig faecal samples, respectively. Overall prevalence was significantly higher in pigs >1 year (56.5 %) than pigs ≤1 year (39.6; p = 0.01) Parasite positivity was neither significantly related with location (p = 0.309) nor with management practices (p = 0.69). High prevalence of gastro intestinal parasites in pigs in Punjab warrants intervention policies to control this problem.