Vol 27 No 2 December - The Indian Society for Parasitology

Journal of Parasitic Diseases
Vol. 27 (2) December 2003, pp. 126-127
Prevalence of Cysticercus tenuicollis infection in slaughtered
sheep and goats at Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh
T. BHASKARA RAO, P.V.VARA PRASAD* and Md. HAFEEZ**
Animal Health Centre, Kakinada-533004 (AP)
Department of Parasitology, College of Veterinary Science Tirupati** : AP and
Regional Husbandary Training Centre, Kakinanda* A.P.
Short Communication
A study was undertaken to know the prevalence of Cysiticercus tenuicollis infection in slaughtered sheep and
goats at Kakinada, A.P. This was recorded to be 2.36% in sheep and 1.62% in goats with an overall
occurrence of 2.34% in both the ruminants. The age wise percentage of occurrence recorded in animals
below and above four years of age revealed slightly higher percentage in older animals.
Key words : Cysticercus tenuicollis, Goats, Prevalence, Sheep
C
ysticercus tenuicollis normally occurs in greater
omentum, mesentry and serosal surface of organs
of domestic as well as wild ruminants (Soulsby,
1982). Prevalenc of C.tenuicollis, has been earlier
recorded in sheep and goats in Tamilnadu
(Jayathilakan et al., 2000 and Raman and Rajavelu,
2000) and Orissa (Dash et al., 2000) states in India.
In view of protecting sheep and goats from
C.tenuicollis infection by taking necessary preventive
measures a study was undertaken to determine the
prevalence of C.tenuicollis infection in slaughtered
sheep and goats at Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh.
The prevalence of C.tenuicollis infection was
ascertained by examination of cysts found in the
omentum, mesentry, peritoneal cavity and liver in the
carcasses of sheep and goats slaughtered at municipal
house, Kakinada in the regular meat inspection and the
identification of cysts of C.tenuicollis was done at
Animal Health Center, Kakinada on the basis of
morphology described by Soulsby (1982) during the
year 2001-2001. The prevalence of C.tenuicollis
infection in relation to species and age was analysed
and presented in tables I and II respectively.
Out of 20,888 sheep and 798 goat carcasses examined,
495 and 13 were found positive for C.tenuicollis
infection in sheep and goats respectively. The overall
prevalence of C.tenuicollis infection was found as
2.34% in sheep and goats during the study period.
Table I
Species wise prevalence of C.tenuicollis
infection in sheep and goats
The species wise prevalence was higher in sheep
S.No. Species No. of No. of % of (2.36%) as compared to goats (1.62%). However this
animals positives positives
was not statistically significant. Jayathilakan et al.,
1. Sheep
examined
(2000) reported C.tenuicollis infection in 15.68% and
20,888 495 2.36
13.33% of sheep and goats respectively. Soulsby
2. Goats 798 13 1.62 (1982) mentioned that the prevalence of C.tenuicollis
Total 21,686 508 2.34 infection in sheep is high.
2
X Test Calculated Value (1.84) is less than the table
value at 5 percent level (3.84) of significance for 1
degrees of freedom for species wise prevalence of
C.tenuicollis infection in between sheep and goats.
** Corresponding Author
The age wise prevalence revealed higher infection in
the age group above 4 years (2.42% in sheep and
1.77% in goats) when compared to below 4 years
(2.15% in sheep and 1.28% in goats), these, however,
are not statistically significant. There is also no
significant difference in the prevalence of