Bovine Cysticercosis in Cattle Slaughtered at Awassa Municipal Abattoir, Ethiopia: Prevalence, Cyst Viability, Distribution and its Public Health Implication

Abstract

A cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2005 to April 2006 on bovine cysticercosis in cattle slaughtered at Awassa municipal abattoir with the objective of determining the prevalence of Taenia saginata cysticercosis, cyst viability, distribution and its public health implication. Questionnaire survey involving 120 respondents was also conducted on human taeniasis. A total of 400 carcasses were examined during the study period, of which 105 (26.25%) were infected with T. saginata metacestodes. From a total of 3200 samples inspected, 500 cysticerci were detected in 141 samples, of which 221 (44.2%) were alive. The anatomical distribution of cysticerci were 65 (29.2%) heart, 56 (25.3%) shoulder muscle, 59 (26.7%) masseter, 23 (10.4%) tongue, 12 (5.4%) diaphragm, three (1.4%) liver, two (0.9%) lung and one (0.5%) kidney samples. The prevalence varied significantly between local and crossbred animals (OR = 3.15, P < 0.05), but not varied between sex, age groups and origin of the animals. T. saginata taeniasis was a widespread public health problem in the town with an overall prevalence of 64.2% (77 of 120). The potential risk factors for disease contraction were raw meat consumption, religion and occupational risks. In conclusion, the study revealed high prevalence of T. saginata metacestodes throughout the edible organs together with existence of deep-rooted tradition of raw meat consumption. This may magnify the public health hazards of T. saginata in the study area. As a result, the disease deserves due attention to safeguard the public health and further promote beef industry in the country.

A survey of zoonotic diseases in trade cattle slaughtered at Tanga city abattoir: a cause of public health concern

“…Slaughter inspection for Cysticercus bovis, based on 'eye and knife' meat inspection, finds at most between 10% to 20% of the cases if proper inspection is done. Macpherson et al [28,29] when doing proper inspection of predilection sites, found that cysticercosis was detected in 10.5% of slaughtered cattle in different abattoirs in Tanzania, with Arusha having the highest proportion of 16.7% and Morogoro the lowest with 6.5% [30] . Heart muscle and musculus triceps brachii harbored the highest numbers of cysts [31] .…”

Prevalence of Bovine Cysticercosis at Jijiga Municipal Abattoir, Ethiopia

“…Bovine cysitcercosis is widely distributed in Ethiopia and a number of individual reported the prevalence of bovine cysitcercosis in different parts of the country 2.25% reports of Tembo (3.2%) and (2.9% and 4.4%) prevalence Jimma in south-western Ethiopia (Megersa et al; Tolosa et al) and Ziway (3.0%) (Bedu et al) in southern Ethiopia and (26.3%) (Abunna et al) in Hawasa and in north-western Ethiopia (18.5%) (Kebede) [7][8][9][10][11][12].…”

“…On the other hand the contribution of Cysticercus bovis to organ condemnation in slaughtered cattle at different abattoir have been reported [12,13]. It is a great problem in developing country like Ethiopia due to the cultural habit eating raw meet as routine dish and holidays has promoted human taeniasis in Ethiopia.…”

Utilização do músculo diafragma e seus pilares como parâmetro na linha de inspeção da cisticercose bovina

“…Para se estimar a dimensão destas perdas, na África anualmente perde-se de 1 a 2 bilhões de dólares devido a cisticercose, que apresenta uma prevalência em torno de 10 a 30% (Harrison 1996;Opara et al, 2006;Abunna et al, 2008;Kebede et al, 2008;Kebede, 2008). Na Europa a prevalência é de 0,01 a 6,8% de acordo com a SCVPH (2000), mas estima-se que seja ainda maior devido a falhas no sistema de notificação .…”

“…Assim, a inspeção visual das carcaças é o método mais eficiente para detecção da carne contaminada com cisticercos, apesar de apenas 10 a 20% dos cistos serem identificados na linha de inspeção habitual (Berends et al 1993).…”