Prevalence of Sarcosporidiosis in Carcasses of Cattle Slaughtered at the Eucalyptus Slaughterhouse-Algeria

Sarcosporidiosis is a parasitic disease due to the development of cystogenic coccidia of the genus Sarcocystis with dixene evolution and muscular localization, which can cause losses in cattle and generate an intestinal infection in domestic carnivores (dog, cat) and humans. The objective of our study was to determine the prevalence of Sarcocystis spp on 149 bovine carcasses at the Eucalyptus slaughterhouse in Algiers by macroscopic and microscopic examination and to evaluate the influence of certain risk factors (age, sex, breed and origin). Samples of esophagus and diaphragms were taken from slaughtered cattle and analyzed by enzymatic (pepsin) digestion and histological technique. The macroscopic examination was negative during carcasses inspection while the microscopic examination showed a prevalence of 100% for enzymatic digestion by revealing bradyzoites in the form of bananas and 47.7% at the histology with the detection of thin-walled cysts of S. cruzi (98.6%), of thick-walled cysts of S. hominis (15.5%) which was the zoonotic species and of S. hirsuta (1.39%). The risk factors studied significantly influenced the prevalence of Sarcocystis sp. This study revealed for the first time in the diaphragm a cyst of Sarcocystis hirsuta.