Coccidiosis Outbreak in an Intensive Exotic Crossbred Sheep Farm in Bangladesh

Abstract

An outbreak of coccidiosis occurred in an exotic intensive crossbred sheep farm in Bangladesh during April 2024. The affected animals showed clinical signs of bloody diarrhea, dehydration, weakness, and anorexia. All the animals were mature adults, and the morbidity rate was 14.29% with no mortality. The fecal oocyst count revealed >5000 oocysts/g of feces, indicative of clinical coccidiosis. The sick animals were isolated immediately and treated with combined coccidiostats with Amprolium and Sulfaquinoxaline for five days. The healthy animals were provided with a preventive dose for seven days. Strict biosecurity was maintained, and cleaning of the shed was strengthened. No correlation was found between age, sex, and breed and the occurrence of coccidiosis. It was evident that the heat wave of April 2024 played a contributing role, whereas stocking density suddenly surged due to the lambing season of that year. Monitoring of the oocyst count in the feces was performed for two weeks post-treatment period. As the months of April-May 2025 didn’t experience heat waves like the previous year, and the animals were more evenly managed, clinical coccidiosis didn’t occur this year. This is the first report of a coccidiosis outbreak in sheep with some new dimensions of disease occurrence, which was successfully managed. These incidents warrant a record for the use of future correspondence by veterinarians, epidemiologists, and farm managers.