A Retrospective Study of Cases of Disease Condition of Large and Small Ruminants Handle at the State Veterinary Hospital Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria

A retrospective study of cases of some diseases conditions handled and recorded at the state veterinary hospital Maiduguri from March, 2012 to April, 2016 was conducted. Cases of diseases conditions were selected based on consistency of recorded history, clinical signs and treatments as well as their public health significance. These includes; Listeriosis, Mange, Peste des petits ruminantis (PPR), Urinary tract infections (UTI), Tetanus, Mastitis, Sheep pox, Goat pox and Dog bite cases. The frequency distributions of the cases were presented according to species, year and months. Out of the total of 398 cases recorded, the occurrence of diseases and health condition was found to be highest in ovine with 243 (61%) cases, while caprine and bovine has 153 (38%) and 2 (0.5%) cases respectively. Mange and dog bite cases were found to be highest and lowest with 111 (28%) and 11 (3%) cases respectively. Highest and lowest number of cases were recorded in 2015 and 2013 with 178 (45%) and 35 (9%) cases respectively. Similarly, the study showed that the months of March and August has the highest and lowest number of recorded cases of 62 (16%) and 13 (3%) respectively. This study showed that sheep were frequently presented to the hospital for treatment than goats and cattle, this may be due to their high market value, ease of handling and for religious festivities. The high number of cases recorded in 2015 may be due to increased awareness of the hospital location and services provided by the hospital through the use of mass media at that time, while the low number of cases may be due to the lost of large volume of recorded cases for up to 5 months (May-September) couple with the insecurity situation of the town at that time. Disease occurrences during the dry season (March) tend to rise, this may be associated with inadequate pasture which may lead to starvation and reckless scavenging of food, and the available pastures tend to have lost their nutritive value