Diagnosis Of Aspergillosis In Apparently Healthy Polo/Market Horses :- Okonkwo Ijeoma J

ABSTRACT xii A diagnostic study was conducted between April 2016 to September in three Horse settlement (polo club port Harcourt, Obollo Afor Horse market and Michael Okpara university research Horses).These sampling areas included the major areas where Horses are kept in large numbers in the Eastern part of Nigeria. This study was done with the objective of ascertaining the presence of Aspergillus organism in apparently healthy Horses. Ninety-one sera were collected also same number of nasal swab. Using Sabouraud dextrose agar which is a selective medium for fungi. The samples were inoculated for 48-72 hours and thereafter stained using lacto phenol cotton blue for proper identification ofthe organism under the microscope. This process is known as needle mount test. There were no growth from the market Horses and research Horses. Four growth were obtained from nasal swab sample from polo club which are kept under intensive management system. The condition might have predisposed the animal toAspergillosis. Presence of Aspergillosis with reference to management (0.001), sex (0.001), and age (0.000) where statistically significant at p<0.05, while those of temperature (0.024), heart rate (0.450),respiratory rate (0.035), and breed(0.271) were not significant at p<0.05. The results confirmed that Aspergillus can be seen in apparently healthy Horses using nasal swab sample but not serum samples except the Horses are showing clinical sign at the time ofsample collection.