Prevalence of cystic echinococcosis among livestock in pastoral and agro-pastoral areas in Uganda

Abstract

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) remains a significant challenge in Uganda with precise status largely, undocumented in most communities. Postmortem examination to determine CE prevalence was done on 14,937 livestock (5,873 goats, 1,377 sheep, 3,726 zebu cattle and 3,054 Ankole cattle) slaughtered in abattoirs in the districts of Moroto in Karamoja region, Kumi in Teso region and Nakasongola and Luwero in Buganda region. Recovered cysts were further characterized to determine their viability status. The overall CE prevalence was 21.9% in sheep, 15.2% in Zebu cattle, 5.5% in goats and 2.1% in Ankole cattle. Moroto district had a higher prevalence of CE than other districts of 31.3% in Zebu cattle, sheep 28%, goats 29.1% and none (0%) in Ankole cattle. On organ locations, the lungs were the most affected in all livestock in all the study areas. Considering cyst fertility, 33.9%, 1.7% and 6.4% of Ankole cattle, Sheep and Zebu cattle respectively had fertile cysts in the liver while 4.5% of goats and 4% Ankole cattle had fertile cysts in the lungs. No fertile cysts were recovered from sheep, Zebu cattle lungs and liver of goats. In conclusion, CE is widespread and occurs among cattle, sheep and goats in pastoral and agro-pastoral areas in Uganda. Therefore, there is an urgent need to create awareness among the communities on role of livestock in CE epidemiology and transmission. Keywords: Cystic Echinococcus; prevalence; livestock; organs; pastoral; agro-pastoral; Uganda