Prevalence of Hydatid Cysts in Livestock Animals in Xinjiang, China

Abstract

Hydatid worms, hosted by humans and animals, impose serious human health risk and cause significant livestock production loss. To better understand the disease infection status in Xinjiang, China, we investigated the disease epidemics in 4 livestock animals, i.e., cattle, sheep (both sheep and goat), camels, and horses, slaughtered at the abattoirs in Urumqi, Yining, Tacheng, and Altay areas. The results showed that the animals were infected at different rates, in the order of sheep (9.8%), cattle (8.4%), camels (6.8%), and horses (4.3%). The infection rates were found to be different between the abattoirs in various regions even for the same animals. For sheep, the rates increased significantly as the animals grew older. It was 1.9% before 1 year of age and increased to 8.2% in the age of 1-2 years, and further increased to 12.3% when the animals were 3-4 years old, and reached 17.2% when they were 5-6 year old. Sheep older than 6 years had an infection rate of 19.5%. This study demonstrates that the 4 livestock animals in the pastoral areas in Xinjiang were infected by the parasites to various extend. This study is the first systematic investigation of the hydatid worms in various livestock animals in Xinjiang, China, which provides epidemiological information about the infection of hydatid worms in livestock, and is valuable in developing strategies for prevention and control of the hydatid disease.

Incidence of Cystic Echinococcosis in Libya: I. Seroprevalence of Hydatid Disease in Sheep and Goats Naturally Exposed to the Infection in the North Midland Region

“…For goats, the rate of seropositivity between the different age groups was almost the same i.e., 24, 28 and 29% in 2-< 4 yrs old, 4-< 7 yrs old and over 7 yrs old respectively, these observations suggests that, transmission of CE can be occurred at any age of the animals with variable degree of infectivity and also agreed with the abattoir data that previously reported (Ongling et al, 2014). The slight differences in the total rate of seropositivity between both districts in general and between villages of each district could be due to sharing the same environmental conditions, grazing methods and human behaviour.…”

Epidemiological Study of Cystic Echinococcosis in Sheep, Cattle and Goats in Erbil Province

“…The prevalence of CE increase with the age, and usually animals are slaughtered at ages varies with countries and cultures, therefore, prevalence will typically be over-estimated if older animals are slaughtered and under estimated if younger animals are slaughtered (Barnes et al, 2012, Qingling et al, 2014and Al Kitani et al, 2015. Adult animals were more likely to have CE than younger ones.…”

“…Small ruminants (sheep and goats) three years or older were also found to be 1.6 times more at risk as compared to the younger groups. Additionally, an increase of cyst abundance has been reported in older age groups of farm animals (Al-Abbassy et al, 1980;Kamhawi et al, 2009Ibrahim, 2010Ibrahim et al, 2011;Andresiuka et al, 2013 andQingling et al, 2014).…”

“…Low rate of mixed infection (liver, lungs and spleen) was recorded. The higher rate of liver and both (liver and lungs) involvement because liver act as the first filter for larval infection and the lungs act as the second filter, furthermore the liver possess the first great capillaries sites encountered by migrating the Echinococcus oncosphere (hexacanth embryo) which adopt the portal vein route and primarily negotiate hepatic and pulmonary filtering system sequentially before any other peripheral organ is involved (Kebede et al, 2009;Khalf et al, 2014;Mero et al, 2014 andQingling et al, 2014). The liver of sheep and goats were found to be more commonly infected with hydatid cysts than the lungs is in agreement with the previous findings of Saeed et al( 2000); Yildiz and Gurcan (2003); Haridy et al(2006); Kamhawi et al(2009);Saida and Nouraddin (2011);Jarjees and Al-Bakri(2012), and Khalf et al(2014).…”

First serological study of equine hydatidosis in Iran

“…Average infection rate of the sheep and cattle in Iran is 10 % (ranging 1-50 %) and 12 % (ranging 1-28 %) respectively (Dalimi et al 2006;Mousavi et al 2003). Qingling et al (2014) investigated the disease epidemics in livestock animals slaughtered at the abattoirs in China. The results showed that the animals were infected at different rates, in the order of sheep (9.8 %), cattle (8.4 %), camels (6.8 %), and horses (4.3 %).…”