Dayashankar¹ and Rakesh Kumar Singh²

¹Veterinary Surgeon, Dudhwa National Park, Palia, Kheri, U.P, India
²Department of Animal Husbandry, Dy. Chief Veterinary Officer, Meerut, U.P, India

*Corresponding Author: Rakesh Kumar Singh, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dy. Chief Veterinary Officer, Meerut, U.P, India.

Received: March 09, 2023; Published: April 11, 2023

Abstract

Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (DTR) represents one of the few remaining examples of a highly diverse and productive Terai ecosystem, supporting large number of endangered species, obligate species of tall wet grasslands and species of restricted distributions. DTR is proud owner of 24 elephants maintained at five elephant camps very well under wildomestic condition. Filariasis is one of the common diseases of animal as well as that of human beings. Elephants also suffer from cutaneous filariasis or haemorrhagic filariasis or parasitic dermatorrhagia caused by Indofilaria pattabiramani and I. elephantis respectively. One female elephant aged around 20 years, weighing approximately 2700 kg whenever used for work was repeatedly showing acute nodule formations on belly which used to subside subsequently. The intensity and number of nodules increased gradually and were very quick to appear after field work with elephant. Due to itching of nodules the elephant used to rub them on tree trunks as a result of which nodules ruptured and small amount of blood oozed from them. The disease was diagnosed as Cutaneous filariasis. The elephant was given injection Ivermectin subcutaneously at tail region and subscapular folds @ 0.3 mg per kg body weight with a 16 gauge needle. A total of 40 ml ivermectin (20 mg per ml concentration) was injected at a time at two regions as discussed. The injection was repeated after seven days with same dose. The animal fully recovered after two injections.

Keywords: Filariasis; Endoparasites; Elephants; Ivermectin; Dudhwa National Park (DNP); Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (DTR)

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Citation

Citation: Dayashankar and Rakesh Kumar Singh. “Management of Filariasis in Asian Elephants (Elephus Maximus) Under Field Conditions". Acta Scientific Veterinary Sciences 5.5 (2023): 19-21.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2023 Dayashankar and Rakesh Kumar Singh. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.