Prevalence of Sarcocystosis in Slaughtered Animals in Libya.

Abstract

This investigation was carried out to assess the prevalence of sarcocystosis in slaughtered animals in Libya. A total of 160 longissimus Doris muscles samples were taken from (20 sheep, 20 cattle, 20 goats, and 20 camels). Five samples from each animal chosen randomly from different Libyan by an area: east area (Tubrok – Gedabia), med area (Tawerga – Bani Waleed), west area (Zavia and Zwara) and southern area (Mizda – Zentan). Samples from each animal were used for histological examination (methods for presence of sarcocysystis species). The samples were fixed in neutral buffered 10% formalin, dehydrated through a serial gradient of ethanol, embedded in paraffin then sectioned   at 5 mm and stained with hematoxylin and eosin for examination with light microscopy. The results indicated that the species had a significant effect on sarcocystis infection, where the sheep was the highest 32.5%, and the goat was 20%, while cattle was 7.5%. However, non of camels were infected. In terms of different areas, the results showed that the east area were more infected (27.5%) than south and west area (10%), the mid area infected by (12.5%). These results reveal that the Libyan environment heavily contaminated by sarcocystosis. Alarge wide investigation is needed to verify these results, and to establish policies to reduce the adverse effects.