Prevalence of Linguatula serrata nymphs in slaughtered sheeps in Isfahan province, southwest of Iran

Abstract

Linguatula serrata, well known as tongue worm; is an aberrant cosmopolitan parasite, which inhabits the carnivorous mammals (especially Canidae) respiratory system. The discharged eggs infect many plant feeder animals including human that produces visceral and nasopharyngeal linguatulosis which is known as Marrara syndrome in man. In current study, the prevalence rate of infection with L. serrata nymphs in mesenteric and mediastinal lymph nodes (MLNs) of slaughtered sheeps was investigated in Esfahan Province, Iran. The MLNs of 506 slaughtered sheeps, including 236 females and 270 males, were examined for L. serrata nymphs by cutting the MLNs longitudinally and then microscopic studies for L. serrata nymphs. Sheeps were categorized into four age groups, including \1 year, 1-2 years, 2-3 years and [3 years. Results showed that 11.66 % of examined sheeps were infected with L. serrata. Age had significant effect on the prevalence rate of this parasite in sheeps (infection in sheeps with [3 years old was more than other groups significantly) and sex had no significant effect on the prevalence rate of this parasite in sheeps. Infection rate in winter was significantly lower than infection rate in spring; but there were no significant differences between the other seasons. As high prevalence rate of infection in sheeps, suggesting possibly similar high rate of infection in other animals and man in the investigated area, which this emphasizes undertaking strict control measures to reduce risk of zoonotic outbreaks. This study was demonstrated infection rate of L. serrata in sheeps in central parts of Iran.

Prevalence of Linguatula serrata nymphs in slaughtered sheep from Tehran province, Iran

“…It should be noted that in this research, mesenteric lymph nodes of the sheep were examined because it is the first site that the parasite chooses to enter (Shekarforush & Arzani-Shahni, 2002). However, based on other conducted studies in Iran, the reported infection rates of sheep mesenteric lymph nodes in various parts of Iran were as followed: Isfahan, 11% (Kheirabadi et al, 2015); Urmia, 65.7% (Yakhchali et al, 2009); Shiraz, 11.5% (Shekarforoush et al, 2004); Tabriz, 52.5% (Tavassoli et al, 2007) Kermanshah, 19.7% (Hashemnia et al, 2016). In this research, the infection rate of sheep in their mesenteric lymph nodes was 8.6%.…”

“…Humans serve as either intermediate or final hosts and can be infected by both adult and nymph form of parasite; however, the infection with the former is rare. The two forms of the infection are: visceral linguatulosis, following consumption of water, vegetables or fruits contaminated with the eggs, and nasopharyngeal linguatulosis, known also as Halzoun or Marrara syndrome, following consumption of raw or undercooked infected viscera of infected animals (Shekarforoush et al, 2004;David et al, 2006;Tajik et al, 2006;Koehsler et al, 2011;Pirali Kheirabadi et al, 2014;Yazdani et al, 2014;Hajimohammadi et al, 2017).…”

Prevalence of Linguatula serrata infection in domestic ruminants from Meshkin Shahr, Iran

“…Nourollahifard et al (2010) and Sadeghi-Dehkordi et al (2014) reported the prevalence of L. serrata nymphs to be significantly higher in females than in males. In similar studies in sheep and goats, there was found no significant differences between infection rate and gender (Kheirabadi et al, 2014;Azizi et al, 2015;Kheirabadi et al, 2015). They attributed this finding to the longer lifespan of female animals before being slaughtered.…”

“…In the first step of examination, the prevalence of L. serrata infection were detected 24.81% (100/403) (Rezaei et al, 2012;Youssefi et al, 2012;Sadeghi-Dehkordi et al, 2014;Kheirabadi et al, 2014), 9-52.5% in sheep (Tavassoli et al, 2007a;Nourollahifard et al, 2011;Youssefi et al, 2012;Sadeghi-Dehkordi et al, 2014;Azizi et al, 2015;Kheirabadi et al, 2015), and 14.8-69.1% in cattle (Tajik et al, 2006;Nourollahifard et al, 2010b;Youssefi and Hadizadeh-Moalem, 2010;Rezaei et al, 2011;Youssefi et al, 2012;Alborzi et al, 2013;Nematollahi et al, 2015).…”

“…Extensive research has also evaluated the prevalence of L. serrata infection in dogs (Oryan et al, 2008), camels (Haddadzadeh et al, 2009;Radfar et al, 2010), buffaloes (Tajik and Jalali, 2010), sheep (Nourollahifard et al, 2011;Azizi et al, 2015;Kheirabadi et al, 2015), cattle (Youssefi and Hadizadeh-Moalem, 2010), and goats (Nourollahifard et al, 2010a;Kheirabadi et al, 2014) in different regions of Iran. There are no published data on linguatulosis in animals from Northwest of Iran.…”