Prevalence of Sarcocystis infection in slaughtered sheep by macroscopic and histopathologic method in Mashhad during 2013-2014

Sarcocystis infection is one of the most common zoonotic protozoon diseases caused by different sarcocystis spp. Due to the importance of this infection in public health, the infection rate of macroscopic cysts in sheep of Mashhad slaughterhouse, was investigated in this study. (March2013 –Dec2014)  

In this cross sectional study, 105 slaughtered sheep were selected randomly and their esophagus, diaphragm, heart, tongue and intercostal muscles were separated. In order to find cysts, the samples were examined by two

direct observation for macroscopic cysts and finding microscopic cysts by histopathology, hematoxilin staining and microscopic investigation for bradyzoites of parasite. SPSS version 18 (SPSS Inc., IL, USA) was used for all statistical analyses. The level of statistical significance was set at p

In macroscopic examination 34.28% of samples had macroscopic cysts. In microscopic examination 81.90% were positive.  The results showed the significant difference between different muscles and microscopic cysts (Pvalu