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A post-mortem study of bovine fasciolosis in the Mitidja (north center of Algeria): prevalence, risk factors, and comparison of diagnostic methods

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Abstract

The present study was conducted to determine the prevalence of fasciolosis and investigate the associated risk factors (sex, age, and season) in slaughtered cattle of the Mitidja area. This survey also aimed to compare three diagnostic methods: liver inspection, microscopic bile examination, and ELISA test. Liver and bile of 1400 cattle were examined for the presence of adult and eggs of Fasciola hepatica, respectively. Based on the results obtained by liver and bile examination, a subset of 206 cattle from the 1400 was selected for antibodies detection using the ELISA test. Liver inspection and microscopic bile examination showed prevalences of 2.86% and 5.50%, respectively. The difference between the two methods was highly significant (p < 0.001). The overall prevalence of bovine fasciolosis found by both methods was 6.07%. The disease was more prevalent in females (11.96%) than in males (2.43%), and in older cattle (12.30%) than in younger ones (2.36%). The ELISA test showed some conflicting results: 23.61% of cattle previously diagnosed positive with liver inspection and bile examination were found seronegative, and 3.73% of cattle previously diagnosed negative were found to be seropositive. The sensitivity and specificity of microscopic bile examination were respectively 80% (CI 65.2–89.5%) and 96.7% (CI 95.6–97.5%) as compared with the liver inspection. Likewise, this same method has a sensitivity of 81.36% (CI 69.6–89.3%) and a specificity of 88.97% (CI 82.8–93.1%) as compared with the ELISA test. Our results show that microscopic bile examination is able to detect more infected cattle than liver inspection. In addition to being simple, fast, inexpensive, sensitive, and specific, it is an effective method for the diagnosis of fasciolosis.

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Acknowledgments

We express our thanks and gratitude to Pr. Hamrioui (CHU-Mustapha) for welcoming us and providing us work equipment. We extend our sincere appreciation to Dr. Boutellis (USTHB) for her guidance and support. Finally, the authors also thank Mr. Chouchane and Mr. Bouchtout for the English revision.

Funding

This work was supported by the Laboratory Research Animal Health and Production, Superior National Veterinary School, Algiers, Algeria.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Biodiversité et Environnement: Interactions et Génomes, Faculté des Sciences Biologiques, Université des Sciences et de la Technologie Houari Boumediene, BP 32, El Alia Bab Ezzouar, Alger, Algérie

    Mylissa Chaouadi & Fadila Tazerouti

  2. Laboratoire de Santé et Production Animale, Ecole Nationale Supérieure Vétérinaire Rabie Bouchama, Rue Issad Abbes, Oued Smar, Alger, Algérie

    Khaled Harhoura, Miriem Aissi & Safia Zenia

  3. Laboratoire de Parasitologie et Mycologie, Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire Mustapha Pacha, Place du 1er-Mai CP, 16000, Alger, Algérie

    Houria Zait

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  1. Mylissa Chaouadi
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  2. Khaled Harhoura
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  3. Miriem Aissi
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  4. Houria Zait
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  5. Safia Zenia
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  6. Fadila Tazerouti
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Correspondence to Mylissa Chaouadi.

Ethics declarations

The manuscript does not contain clinical studies or patient data.

This study was not performed on live animals but only on post-mortem ones, in slaughterhouses. So, the animals are slaughtered in accordance with the Algerian regulations in force (Interministerial order dated 17 March 2014 and published in the Official Journal of the Algerian Republic No. 15).

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This study was conducted between February 2016 and February 2017 on cattle slaughtered in the Mitidja area (north center of Algeria).

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Chaouadi, M., Harhoura, K., Aissi, M. et al. A post-mortem study of bovine fasciolosis in the Mitidja (north center of Algeria): prevalence, risk factors, and comparison of diagnostic methods. Trop Anim Health Prod 51, 2315–2321 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-019-01951-w

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