prevalence and treatment of balantidium coli in cattle referred to mahsa veterinary clinic

The principal purpose of this study is to provide the rate of balantidium coli infection, a ciliate intestinal protozoan with a wide host range, and the prevalence of this parasite in cattle referred to mahsa veterinary clinic in khomam city located in guilan province and discuss the possible treatment against this disease. b. coli is an intestinal protozoan with zoonotic importance that causes the disease balantidiasis in a variety of host species. on the other hand, public health is important to identify gaps in the understanding of this disease and the efficient treatment against this parasite. a total of 105 cattle were randomly selected from traditional farms of khomam city for six months from december 2023 to june 2024. these cattle didn’t have any significant clinical findings also were not taken any antiparasitic drugs. fecal samples were prepared directly from the rectum of these cattle. these samples were transferred to the laboratory and were examined for the detection of balantidium coli trophozoite after separating with the method of flotation at light microscopy. the prevalence of balantidium coli in the studied samples was 65 (61.9%). the infection rate of balantidim coli among male and female cattle was 42 (40%%) and 23 (21.9%) respectively. the highest and lowest prevalence of balantidium coli was in more than 3-year-old cattle 47 (44.76%) and 1 to 3-year-old cattle 18 (17.14%) respectively. finally, the present study revealed that the cattle of rasht city were infected by balantidium coli. the suggested treatment in this study is using injected oxytetracycline and metronidazole in infected cows. there was no sign of parasite in the collected samples of these cows after one month of the treatment.