Prevalence and Genotyping of Echinococcus Species from Livestock in Kajiado County, Kenya

Abstract

Cystic Echinococcosis (CE) is a widespread neglected zoonotic disease and is caused by the larval stage of the dog tapeworm Echinococcus granulosus sensu lato. CE is more frequent in livestock-rearing areas and where people live a nomadic or seminomadic lifestyle such as in Kajiado County, Kenya. There is limited data on CE disease situation in the county of Maasailand; the present study, therefore, reports on the prevalence of CE in cattle, sheep, and goats and their relative importance in CE transmission in Kajiado County. In total, 1,486 livestock (388 cattle, 625 sheep, and 473 goats) slaughtered in two abattoirs were examined for the presence of hydatid cysts in various organs. Cyst isolates were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) of the NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1 gene (nad1). The overall prevalence of CE was 14.8% (220/1486), while prevalence per livestock species was 15.2% (72/473) in goats, 14.9% (93/625) in sheep, and 14.2% (55/388) in cattle. Out of the 421 cysts isolated, 389 cysts were successfully characterized to be either E. granulosus sensu stricto (s. s.), 356/389 (91.5%), E. canadensis (G6/7), 26/389 (6.7%), or E. ortleppi, 7/389 (1.8%). This record confirms predominance of E. granulosus s. s. in Maasailand and other parts of Kenya, while the importance of E. ortleppi and E. canadensis (G6/7) to the general CE burden in Maasailand might be higher than previously thought. More so, a higher infection pressure for humans by E. granulosus s. s. based on its abundance could be speculated. The study sheds significant light on CE situation in livestock in the nomadic/seminomadic society of the Maasai in Kajiado County and provides good bases to investigate human CE in the area.

Molecular characterization ofEchinococcus granulosusin livestock of Al-Madinah (Saudi Arabia)

“…and its metacestode stage, hydatid cyst (Menekşe et al ., 2012). Echinococcus granulosus is cosmopolitan in distribution, but concentrated in the major livestock keeping or rearing areas, especially of South America, the Mediterranean, East Africa, Russia, Central Asia, China and Australia (Grosso et al ., 2012; Fallahizadeh et al ., 2019; Nungari et al ., 2019; Ramos-Sarmiento & Chiluisa-Utreras, 2020). In Saudi Arabia (KSA), several studies have indicated that hydatid disease is endemic where dogs are one of the major factors that distribute the disease, as well as the direct sources of human infection represented in home slaughtering of camel and sheep (Abu-Eshy, 1998; Al-Mofleh et al ., 2000; Adewunmi & Basilingappa, 2004; Rashed et al ., 2004; Al-Malki & Degheidy, 2013; Toulah et al ., 2017).…”

Prevalence and genotyping of Echinococcus granulosus sensu lato from livestock in north-eastern Kenya

“…The most notable difference between this study and those of high-prevalence regions is the rare occurrence of E. granulosus s.s. Although previous studies in Kenya have confirmed sheep as the main intermediate host of E. granulosus s.s. where cysts attained high fertility rates (Dinkel et al, 2004;Addy et al, 2012;Nungari et al, 2019), in this study, no cyst from sheep presented this species. The analysis of more cysts from sheep in this region is required.…”

“…The majority of the cysts in this study were isolated from the liver, which is common since the liver is the first organ encountered by the migrating oncosphere after leaving the intestines. This finding agrees with observations in Maasailand, Kenya (Addy et al ., 2012; Odongo et al ., 2018; Nungari et al ., 2019) and in Sudan (Elmahdi et al ., 2004). These results, however, differed with reports from other regions in Kenya that found the lung as the most parasitized organ (Njoroge et al ., 2002; Kere et al ., 2019).…”

“…All cysts recovered from sheep were calcified possibly due to the rare occurrence of E . granulosus s.s , a trend contrary to other studies in Kenya (Mbaya et al ., 2014; Gachengo et al ., 2017; Odongo et al ., 2018; Nungari et al ., 2019) that reported high cyst fertility in sheep. Indeed, calcified cysts accounted for 82.7% of all samples in this study – a common trend in recent studies in Kenya – 32.9% in Maasailand (Nungari et al , 2019) and 80% in Turkana (Zeyhle, unpublished data).…”

“…granulosus s.s , a trend contrary to other studies in Kenya (Mbaya et al ., 2014; Gachengo et al ., 2017; Odongo et al ., 2018; Nungari et al ., 2019) that reported high cyst fertility in sheep. Indeed, calcified cysts accounted for 82.7% of all samples in this study – a common trend in recent studies in Kenya – 32.9% in Maasailand (Nungari et al , 2019) and 80% in Turkana (Zeyhle, unpublished data). The sampling procedure of cysts employed in recent studies in Kenya is responsible for the characterization of many calcified cysts; however, the cause of calcification remains unknown (Nungari et al ., 2019).…”