OCCURRENCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF SARCOCYSTIS PARASITE ISOLATED FROM SHEEP IN YAZD PROVINCE, IRAN
Introduction: Sarcocystis species are one of the most important meat borne parasites. Sarcocystosis causes several symptoms in human as well as numerous diseases with a high economic impact on livestock. In the current paper at first the results of a pilot study for determination of disease agent in the lambs of Yazd province in central Iran is presented. Then the status of parasite in red meat products in the study region is discussed. Materials and Methods: Muscles of 70 slaughtered sheep from both sexes and different ages were investigated for presence of parasite cysts from September to October 2013. Carcass inspection with naked eye at industrial slaughterhouses of Yazd for macroscopic cysts, and pepsin-digestion method for microscopic cysts was performed on common infected sites
MICROSCOPICAL AND SEROLOGICAL STUDIES WITH ULTRASTRUCTURE DESCRIPTION OF SARCOCYSTIS SPECIES IN SHEEP IN ASSIUT
This study was conducted to determine the infection rate of Sarcocystis species in sheep in Assiut. A total of 100 slaughtered sheep examined for Sarcocystis, no macroscopic cysts were observed, 93% (93/100) were positive by microscopical examination and 28% (28/100) were positive by using Agar gel diffusion test. The infection rate of Sarcocystis had very high significant differences between microscopic examination and Agar gel diffusion test. High statistical significant effect was found on the infection rate of Sarcocystis in different examined muscles of sheep. The highest infection rate was recorded in oesophagus (71%), followed by diaphragm (65%), tongue (58%), skeletal muscles (53 % ) and heart muscles (43 % ). The infection rate of Sarcocystis in males was 95.2% (40/42) while in females were 91.4% (53/58) by microscopical examination. Higher infection rate of Sarcocystis were detected in sheep 6 months - 2 years age 95% (38/40) than that of sheep between 2-4 years old 92.7% (38/41) and those equal or older than 4 years 89.5% (17/19). No significant difference between infection and age groups or sex of animals was observed. The use of transmission electron microscope (TEM) allowed the identification of S. tenella and S. arieticanis in sheep in Assiut. Examination of S. tenella cyst wall with TEM showed palisade-like villar protrusions while, examination of S. arieticanis cyst wall showed hair-like villar protrusions parallel to cyst wall.
Age variations in the prevalence of sarcocystosis in sheep and goats from northern and central Jordan
Awassi sheep and mountain goats slaughtered in northern and central Jordan were examined for Sarcocystis cysts by post-mortem examination, trichinoscopy of muscle samples taken from esophagi and diaphragms and serologically by indirect hemagglutination (IHA) during the period June 1986–May 1988. Macrosarcocysts were found in 11.3% (70620) of sheep and 11.7% (46393) of goats aged over 1 year old. Microsarcocysts were found in 50.1% (11852693) of the sheep diaphragm samples and 56.4% (7111261) of the same organs of goats. The prevalences were lower in the esophageal muscles (26.4%, 348 of 1319 and 25.1%, 97 of 386) than the diaphragmal muscles (29.0%, 383 of 1319 and 34.2%, 132 of 386) in the younger age groups (less than 7 months) of sheep and goats, respectively. The prevalences in both the esophagus and the diaphragm increased with age. The seroprevalences of anti-Sarcocystis antibodies in sheep and goats were significantly higher (P < 0.05) than the prevalence of Sarcocystis cysts detected by trichinoscopy. The seroprevalence of sarcocystosis increased with age in sheep and goats.