Abstract

Epidemiology and the types of isolated echinococcal cysts from sheep and cattle slaughtered at Zakho abattoirs, Zakho District. Kurdistan Region, Iraq

Authors: Wijdan Mohammed Salih Mero, Araz Ramadhan Issa and Sardar Hassan Arif

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.71081/cvj/2023.024

Abstract
Echinococcus granulosus sensu lato species complex is the parasite responsible for cystic echinococcosis (CE), which has a worldwide distribution. This study involved the prevalence of cystic echinococcosis in sheep and cattle slaughtered at Zakho abattoirs from February 2020 to January 2021, in which 21565 animals were slaughtered. They included 14547 sheep and 7018 cattle. The total rate of infection was 1.18% (255/21565), with the highest rate (1.34%) in sheep and the lowest (0.85%) in cattle. Among infected sheep, 45.64% of the cysts were seen in both the liver and lungs, 32.82% in the liver and 21.53% in the lungs. While among infected cattle, 76.66% of the cysts were found in both the liver and the lungs, 16.66% in the liver and 6.66% in lungs. Concerning animal gender, females of sheep and cattle showed the highest infection rate as compared to males (37.01 and 83.33% versus 0.49 and 0.71%), respectively. Regarding the yearly prevalence of CE, sheep showed the highest rate of infection throughout the year with a peak during April which was 4.43%, while the highest rate of infection in cattle was during August (2.63%). According to cyst types, sheep CE showed the highest rate (63.04%) of fertility, followed by cattle (14.29%). While the highest rate (77.77%) of sterile cysts were in cattle. Furthermore, 16.67% of sheep cysts and 7.95% of cattle cysts were calcified. Sheep cysts are characterized by the highest rate of protoscolices viability than cattle cysts (58.36 vs 27.36%). These results showed that the prevalence of CE infection is lower than that previously reported in the same regions of Iraq, but the disease is still present and there is the possibility of its transmission to sheep and cattle which play an important role in the life cycle and transmission of this zoonotic disease to definitive host and from them to humans and other susceptible intermediate hosts.

Keywords: Cystic echinococcosis; Echinococcus granulosus; Senso Lato; Zakho abattoirs Zakho District, Iraq