A survey on the Frequency of Sarcocystis in Bandar Abbas, Iran in 2019 - 2020

Background: The zoonotic Sarcocystis parasite has an obligatory two-host life cycle that mainly involves herbivorous animals as intermediate hosts and carnivorous animals as definitive hosts. Objectives: Lack of reliable study and published data bout frequency of Sarcocystis in livestock of Hormozgan Province and consumed meat led us to investigate in abattoirs and slaughterhouses of Bandar Abbas, Iran, in 2019 - 2020. Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 400 meat samples of three types of animals (cow, sheep, goat) belonging to Hormozgan, Fars, and Kerman provinces were studied from September 2019 to January 2020 using naked eye examination for detection of macroscopic Sarcocystis cysts and pepsin digestion method accompanied by squeezing methods performed to examine striated muscles for microscopic cyst types. Isolated tissues of the esophagus, heart, and diaphragm of 400 slaughtered animals were examined for Sarcocystis. Results: The carcasses of all the animals were investigated to detect Sarcocystis macroscopic cysts, all of which were negative. However, microscopic examination of isolated tissues by pepsin digestion showed a total frequency of 92.25% in these animals. Analysis revealed that cows bred in Hormozgan and goats imported from Kerman are significantly infected and play an important role in the distribution of disease (P < 0.05). Conclusions: These results and obtained data indicated that a large volume of imported meats to Hormozgan is contaminated with this parasite, and more control should be applied over slaughtered livestock. Also, the people of the community who consume these meats should be given proper and complete training.