Common diseases of sheep (Ovis aries Linnaeus) and goats (Capra aegagrus hircus) in Jordan: A retrospective study (2015-2021)

Despite major efforts that have been undertaken to improve livestock health and productivity in Jordan, infectious and non-infectious diseases continue to cause significant economic losses.

The objective of this study was to report the most common diseases (infectious and non-infectious) affecting sheep (Ovis aries Linnaeus) and goats (Capra aegagrus hircus) in Jordan.

Data related to sheep and goats presented for clinical evaluation to the Veterinary Health Center of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Jordan University of Science and Technology between January 2015 and December 2021 extracted from the case medical records were used in this study. The data were entered into Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and descriptive analysis was performed to report the frequencies, averages, and range values. The data were categorized according to sex (female vs male), body system involved in the disease process, nature of the disease process (infectious vs non-infectious), and age [pre-weaning (less than 2 months of age), 2 months to 1 year, and older than 1 year]. Significant differences between different groups were determined using an independent t-test.

Medical records of 187 goats and 434 sheep were included in the analysis of this study. Females were significantly more represented in the study population for goats and sheep, 87.70% and 84.10%, respectively. The age of animals ranged between 1 day and 9 years in goats and 1 day and 7 years in sheep. In both goats and sheep, a significant number of cases (p ≤ 0.05) were presented with reproductive (28.42% and 29.49%, respectively) and gastrointestinal diseases (20.52% and 25.11%, respectively). In goats, other disease diagnoses were involving the respiratory (10.52%), udder/teat (11.05%), and metabolic systems (10.00%). In sheep, other disease diagnoses were involving multiple systems (8.98%), respiratory (7.60%), metabolic (6.22%), udder/teat (5.99%), and the nervous system (5.06%).

Results of this study provide a list of the most likely differential diagnoses in different age groups of both sexes in goats and sheep in Jordan. This information could be used by veterinarians as well as policymakers in order to formulate and implement appropriate and effective preventive and control measures against common diseases in goats and sheep.