Prevalence and Economic Significance of Bovine Hydatidosis and Cysticercosis in Mekelle Municipality Abattoir, Northern Ethiopia

A cross - sectional study was conducted from November 2009 to March 2010 on cysticercosis ( Cystice rcus bovis ) and cystic echinococcosis in cattle slaughtered at Mekelle municipality abattoir in Tigray region of Ethiopia with over all objectives of determining the prevalence of metacestods and providing the baseline data on their status and socio econom ic importance in the study area. Accordingly, a total of 1800 randomly selected slaughtered cattle were examined both during ante mortem and postmortem inspection and then a prevalence of 22.2% (399/1800) for hydatidosis and 4.44% (80/1800) for cysticercos is observed. The distribution of Cysticercosis in infected organs and tissue showed: masseter muscle and heart (0.2%), lung (0.7%), tongue (0.4%) and liver (3.1%). The logistic regression analysis of potential risk factors revealed that there was statistic ally insignificant difference in the prevalence of taeniasis between animals from different origin and age (P > 0.05). Regarding the distribution of hydatid cyst; lung (13%), liver (8.2%), spleen (0.44%), kidney (0.17%) and heart (0.3%). Study results indi cated that age, body condition and origin have significant effect (P < 0.05) on the prevalence of the disease. A lower percentage of calcified cysts (23.3%) out of cyst examined and relatively high percentage, 37.8% and 38.9% of the total cysts were fertil e and sterile, respectively. The total annual economic loss from organ condemnation and carcass weight loss due to hydatidosis and cysticercosis was estimated to be 930,918.52 ETB. The result of this study revealed that metacestode is the major disease cau sing direct and indirect economic losses significantly in the study area. Control strategies should be instituted taking into account the social, cultural and economic condition at the study area.