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              Open Access  
Copyright: The authors. This article is an open access 
article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) which permits unrestricted use, 
distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly 
cited. 
 
                              
                              
                              Original Research 
                              
                              4.
                              Cyst Viability, organ distribution and financial 
                              losses due to hydatidosis in cattle slaughtered at 
                              Dessie municipal abattoir, north-eastern Ethiopia -
                              
                              
                              A Melaku, B Lukas and B BogaleVet World. 2012; 5(4): 213-218
 
                
              doi: 
              10.5455/vetworld.2012.213-218 
                
              
              
          
 
              Abstract 
 
                              A cross 
                              sectional study was conducted from October 2010 to 
                              March 2011 to assess the prevalence, cyst 
                              viability, organ distribution and financial losses 
                              of bovine hydatidosis in cattle slaughtered at 
                              Dessie municipal abattoir. Postmortem inspection, 
                              cyst characterization and financial loss 
                              estimations were conducted. Out of 610 inspected 
                              cattle, 83 (13.61%) were harbouring a single or 
                              multiple hydatid cysts. Significantly (P<0.05) 
                              higher infection rate was observed in poor 
                              (22.89%) than medium (12.99%) and good (10.40%) 
                              body condition scorings but significant variation 
                              (P>0.05) was not observed in different age groups. 
                              Anatomically, the cysts were distributed 68.67% in 
                              the lung, 14.46% in the liver, 6.02% in the 
                              kidneys, 1.2% in the heart and 9.64% were found 
                              both in the lung and liver. Of the total examined 
                              cysts (195) for fertility and viability, 27 
                              (13.85%) were fertile, 44 (22.56%) were calcified, 
                              124 (63.59%) were sterile. The rate of cyst 
                              calcification was higher in the liver (78.14%) 
                              than other organs whilst the fertility percentage 
                              was higher in the lung (14.65%). Of the total 27 
                              fertile cysts subjected to viability test, 13 
                              (6.67%) were viable. Size assessment made on 195 
                              cysts indicated that 153 (78.46%) were small, 41 
                              (21.03%) were medium and one (0.51%) were large 
                              sized cysts. In the present study, the total 
                              annual economic loss from organ condemnation and 
                              carcass weight loss due to hydatidosis was 
                              estimated as 681,333.87 Ethiopian birr which is 
                              about 39157.12 United States dollar per annum 
                              based on the local market prices in the study 
                              period. The result of this study revealed that 
                              hydatidosis is an economically important disease 
                              of cattle which necessitates designing of 
                              appropriate strategies for its control.  
                               
                              Keywords: Hydatid cyst; Hydatidosis; Economic 
                              loss; Prevalence; Cattle; Ethiopia. 
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