The effect of cystic echinococcosis (hydatid disease) on carcase weight in cattle in eastern Australia

Abstract

Cystic echinococcosis is caused by the zoonotic tapeworm Echinococcus granulosus. There has been ongoing controversy over whether it causes weight loss in cattle. Recently implemented recording of comorbidities at processors has provided opportunity to investigate this effect. Using prevalence-based observational data from 1,648,049 adult cattle processed in seven states and territories in Australia (2019–2022), we explored associations between carcase weight, hydatid cysts, comorbidities, sex, age, and region. Linear mixed-effect regression models estimated the effect of cystic echinococcosis on carcase weight, guided by directed acyclic graphs to reduce bias. The highest, previously unreported, prevalence was in the southeast Queensland region. The estimated effect of cystic echinococcosis cysts on carcase weight ranged from a gain of 0.32 kg/carcase (standard error [se] 0.58 kg; two-tooth 2022) to a loss of −5.45 kg/carcase (se 0.63 kg; six-tooth 2019) with most point estimates (11/16) between 0 and −2.5 kg across all cattle grouped by year and dentition. This effect size would be practically undetectable in live cattle which is an important finding; cattle producers are unlikely to observe increased productivity through weight gain from cystic echinococcosis prevention in cattle, and awareness to strengthen prevention in domestic dogs around cattle properties to reduce human risk remains a public health focus.