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A 3-year (2005–2007) retrospective study
was carried out to investigate the occurrence of cystic
echinococcosis (CE) in cattle and shoats (sheep and
goats) slaughtered at Arusha municipal abattoir, Tanzania.
A total of 115186 cattle and 99401 shoats were
slaughtered. Cattle liver, lungs, spleen and heart
condemnation rate was 16.35%, 13.04%, 2.09% and
3.06% respectively while 17.63%, 7.63%, 0.38% and
0.04% of shoats’ liver, lungs, spleen and heart
respectively were condemned. A highly significant
(p<0.001) cystic echinococcosis (CE) infection rate
was recorded in shoats (6.02%) than in cattle (4.2%)
probably because of differences in grazing patterns.
Cattle lungs were more affected by CE (22.5%) than
liver (19.7%) while shoats liver were found to be more
affacted (21%) than the lungs (19.3). A significant
(p<0.001) higher CE infection rate was observed in
cattle spleen (15.5%) than shoats (9.7%). There was no
significant (p>0.05) difference between condemnation
rates due to hydatidosis during rain and dry seasons
probably because of chronicity of the disease. The
study have established that CE is prevalent in animals
slaughtered at Arusha abattoir and causes higher
condemnation rates of edible offals. This merit for more extensive epidemiological investigations to better
determine the prevalence, economic impact and public
health importance of the disease in the region. |
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