Abstract
The livers of slaughtered cattle were examined by visualization, palpation and incision. Macroscopically, some of the infected livers appeared to be slightly swollen with pale color at the round edges, while some appeared greatly swollen, with a few small irregular whitish areas indicating fibrosis over the parietal surface. In some cases, the capsule was thick and rough with whitish or reddish discoloration and parenchyma was hard due to fibrous tissue. Fibrosis of the bile ducts with numerous small and large patches scattered over the parietal surface and the pipe stem appearance of the liver were noticed. It could be concluded that the histopathological changes in the livers of cattle infected with Fasciola gigantica reflected tissue damage, which can amount to significant economic losses in animals and great health problems in man. Serious care and attention are required of both the veterinary workers and the public health planners in the state to ensure that seriously damaged livers are not passed on for human consumption despite their deranged nutritional values and health risk problems. The grazing of cattle should be highly restricted to areas of lesser snail infected site to reduce the rate of animal infection and the consequent economic losses. Key words: Fascioliasis, Fasciola gigantica, histopathology, cirrhosis.
Highlights
Bovine fascioliasis is an economically important helminth disease caused by two trematodes viz. Fasciola hepatica (Linnaeus, 1758) and Fasciola gigantica (Cobbold, 1855)
Some of the infected livers appeared to be slightly swollen with pale color at the round edges, while some appeared greatly swollen, with a few small irregular whitish areas indicating fibrosis over the parietal surface
Fibrosis of the bile ducts with numerous small and large patches scattered over the parietal surface and the pipe stem appearance of the liver were noticed
Summary
Bovine fascioliasis (liver rot) is an economically important helminth disease caused by two trematodes viz. Fasciola hepatica (Linnaeus, 1758) (the common liver fluke) and Fasciola gigantica (Cobbold, 1855). This disease belongs to the plant-borne zoonosis. Chronic fascioliasis causes a chronic inflammation of the liver and bile ducts accompanied by loss of condition, digestive disturbances and a general reduction in productivity (Rana et al, 2014). The direct economic impact of fascioliasis infection is increased condemnation of liver meat, but the far more damaging effects are decreased animal productivity, lower calf birth weight, and reduced growth in effected animals (Hillyer, 2005).
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