helminthes and coccidia infection of wild sheep (ovis ammon orintalis) in kabodan island of national park of urmia lake, iran

forty-one wild sheep (ovis ammon orintalis) from kabodan island of national park of urmialake (north-west of iran), were examined during a period of six months from october 2002 tomarch 2003, for helminthes and coccidian infection. the numbers of oocyst and eggs per gram offaeces (opg & epg) were determined by the centrifuge flotation technique using saturated sugarsolution. the rate of infection for strongylid form, marshalagia, trichuris eggs, and lung wormlarvae were 8 (19.5%), 12 (29.5%), 17 (41.5%) and 14 (34.1%), respectively. thirty-three(80.48%) of the examined wild animals were infected to one or more eimeria species including e.parva, e. ahsata, e. ovinoidalis and e. faurei. this study suggested that the rate of parasiticinfection in wild sheep were very low but it would seem that in unsuitable condition such asdrought and starvation, parasitic infection can be cause a serious problem in wild sheep population.