Prevalence of bovine fascioliasis, areas at risk and ensuing losses in the state of Goiás, Brazil.

Fernanda Martins De Aquino,Luiz Fellipe Monteiro Couto,Gabriel Augusto Marques Rossi,Alliny Souza De Assis Cavalcante,Gustavo Felippelli,João Eduardo Nicaretta,Leonardo Bueno Cruvinel,Thiago De Souza Azeredo Bastos,Breno Cayeiro Cruz,Lucas Vinicius Costa Gomes,Willian Giquelim Maciel,Welber Daniel Zanetti Lopes,Vando Edésio Soares

doi:10.1590/s1984-296120180024

Abstract

The present study had to determine the prevalence and spatial distribution of areas at risk of bovine fascioliasis in the state of Goiás, central-western Brazil between 2007 and 2014; to evaluate the associations of some epidemiological variables with occurrences of Fasciola hepatica in animals; and to estimate the economic losses that this parasite on the cattle industry. It could be concluded that of 23,255,979 animals slaughtered, the average prevalence of F. hepatica in cattle in Goiás during the period evaluated was 0.0026% (95% CI: 0.0024-0.0028). In the State of Goias, in about then years (since when this parasite was found for the first time by other researchers in 2007), F. hepatica was diagnosed in 168 new municipalities. Using the regression analysis, the effective bovine herd size was a significant risk factor (OR= 1.21; 95% CI 1.1022-1.4510; p ≤ 0.05) for cattle to be infected with fascioliasis in the state of Goiás. The cattle-rearing industry lost approximately R$ 15,072.75 (US$ 4,785) due to condemn of livers with Fasciola in the state of Goiás. New studies need to be conducted in these regions, with the aim to identify the likelihood of presence of intermediate hosts, which might serve as a source of F. hepatica infection for definitive hosts.

Highlights

Fasciola hepatica is a parasite with an indirect life cycle, and its intermediate hosts are mollusks in the genus Lymnaea, among which Lymnaea columella, L. cubensis and L. viatrix are the main species in Brazil
It could be seen that the central region and northwestern region were the ones presenting the highest chances of having cattle infected with F. hepatica (Table 1)
The prevalence rate observed in the present study (0.0026%; 95%CI 0.0024-0.0028) was less than the rate of 0.03% that was described by Bennema et al (2014) for the state of Goiás, but similar to rates in the remaining states of the central-western region of Brazil (Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso), which were 0.002% and 0.003%, respectively

Summary

Introduction

Fasciola hepatica is a parasite with an indirect life cycle, and its intermediate hosts are mollusks in the genus Lymnaea, among which Lymnaea columella, L. cubensis and L. viatrix are the main species in Brazil. This trematode causes fascioliasis, a disease that affects the liver and bile ducts of the definitive hosts of this parasite, which may be mammals, including humans (BENNEMA et al, 2014). In Brazil, this parasite has been diagnosed in cattle at slaughterhouses in Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Paraná (southern region), São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo (southeastern region), Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso and Goiás (central-western region) and Tocantins and Pará (northern region) (ALEIXO et al, 2015). The aim in using this technology is to determine the scale and spatial distribution of a specific agent, so that sanitary measures can be taken, in an attempt to minimize the losses and harm caused by agents of viral, bacterial or parasitic origin (FERREIRA et al, 2014; BENNEMA et al, 2014; ALEIXO et al, 2015; ROSSI et al, 2016)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion