Determination of the prevalence of sarcosystis in great slaughter ruminants of khoy city using digestive method and its comparison with slaughterhouse statistics.

This study aims to determine the incidence of Sarcocystis sp. Infection in slaughtered Cattle in the abattoir of Khoy, Iran by digestive method. From March to September 2017, 204 slaughtered Cattle were investigated for the presence of Macroscopic Sarcocystis by direct observation. Each investigated cattle were classified into groups of age, sex and infected muscle tissue. All tissue samples were sectioned into 2-3 mm slices and carefully observed for probable macroscopic cysts. The sections were then examined using the peptic digestion method. Our study showed that the digestion method is useful to identify infected samples. According to the results, 11 out of the 204 cattles (5.39%) were diagnosed as being infested with macroscopic cysts. Microscopic sarcocystis infection in cattle slaughtered in the area was seen. About 94 cattle (46.08%) were diagnosed as positive infasted Sarcocystis species by the digestion method. The data analysis indicated that there is a statistically significant difference between age groups, and the infection rate increased with age (P<0.05). The infection rate was independent of sex, and the difference between males and females was not significant (P>0.05). Also, there was a significant difference between prevalence of Sarcocystis infection in different examined muscles(P<0.05) and most microcysts were diagnosed in skeletal (96.81%) and esophageal muscles (88.30%) in cattle and for buffaloes, microcysts were diagnosed in all infected skeletal muscles and esophageal muscles with 92.31%, was the second tissue with high prevalence.