Coccidiosis in Goat (Capra hircus)

Abstract

Coccidiosis is one of the most important diseases of livestock, particularly poultry. Billions of dollars are spent on prevention worldwide to minimize coccidiosis in poultry. Traditionally, coccidiosis was considered an intestinal disease, caused by several distinct Eimeria species. The disease is so important and pervasive that until recently all poultry feed was medicated with anticoccidial drugs, mainly antibiotics. With the rapid development of drug resistance, and the increasing concern of feeding antibiotics to food animals and potential impact on public health, research has been directed to finding alternative methods of control of coccidiosis in poultry.

Here, I have enlisted scientists with international repute and specialized knowledge to write chapters on all major livestock species including cattle, pigs, sheep and goats. Special emphasis is given to poultry coccidiosis because of economic impact. There are chapters on phylogeny, molecular biology, host-pathogen immunobiology and immunoprophylaxis, vaccines, genetics and genomics, biology and chemotherapy. There is a special chapter on coccidiosis in chickens in China because most of literature is in Chinese and often in local journals. There is also a chapter on intestinal coccidiosis in humans including Cyclospora. We provide concise, authoritative, up to date information on coccidiosis, specially research in the last 28 years. Each species host chapter will have information on different species of coccidia, life cycle and biology, prevalence, epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment.