A Study on Blood parasites of Egyption

Due to the importance of transport animals specially donkeys as transporting means in Egypt, it was found neces- sary to study their blood parasites. The present study wascarried out on 654 blood samples of donkeys during the period extending from April 1977-April 1979 Which were pre- pared for parasitological investigations. The blood samplesobtained were, thin blood films, thick films and whole blood. The blood films were stained With Giemsa while thethick ones were dehomoglobinized before staining. The whole blood was mixed with FUlleborn fluid as well as used for haemotological studies.The mlcrofilariae detected in the blood of donkeys were Onchocerca reticulata and Setaria equina. The meantotal length of Onchocerca reticulata was 165.65 u, breadth ~.95 u. The different anatomical regions were: the cephalic space was at 6.85 u, the nerve ring at 30.35 u, excretorypore appeared at 44.1 u, excretory cell at 56.7 u, the first genital cell at 85.75 u, and the anal pore 124.8 u from the anterior extremity. The nuclear column was composed of1~8e number of oval minute nuclei oocupying 91.19% from