Prevalence and zoonotic aspects of small ruminant mange in the lateritic and waterlogged zones, southern Benin

An epidemiological survey was undertaken from March to September 2010 to assess the prevalence and zoonotic aspects of scabies in small ruminants in two agro-ecological zones in southern Benin. Small ruminant (n = 444) smallholders and 1,807 of their animals (1,233 West African dwarf goats and 574 West African dwarf sheep) were included in the study. The animals underwent physical examination and, when scabies-like lesions were found, crusts and integument scrapings were collected for microscopic parasitological tests. The samples collected in each survey were coded in accordance with the owner-animal pairings in order to assess the degree of correlation between mange cases in humans (smallholders) and their animals. The overall prevalence of scabies was 28.33% and 9.5% in animals and smallholders (human cases) respectively. Infestations were significantly (p