Prevalence and morphopathological characteristics of linguatulosis in one-humped camel (Camelus dromedarius) in Yazd, Iran

Abstract

Linguatula serrata is a cosmopolitan zoonotic parasite. Its adult form inhabit the nasal and respiratory passages of canids as the definitive hosts while its immature stages localize in the mesenteric lymph nodes or in other organs of herbivorous intermediate hosts. We examined the liver, mesenteric, and mediastinal lymph nodes of 272 camels slaughtered at the slaughterhouse of Yazd, Iran. Forty-one out of 272 camels (15.1 %) were infected with nymphs of L. serrata. Twenty-four out of 166 males (14.45 %) and 17 out of 106 females (16 %) were positive. The livers of five camels, which also had nymphs in their lymph nodes, were infected with the larval stage of this parasite. The infection rate increased with age and was highly significant, while sex did not play a significant role in the prevalence of this parasitic infection. The infected lymph nodes were grossly enlarged, edematous, and consisted of hemorrhagic and necrotic lesions. Histopathologically, the architecture of the infected lymph nodes was degraded, necrotic, and sectioned migrating stages of L. serrata were clearly visible. In some lymph nodes, parasitic granulomatous lymphadenitis with necrosis and in some cases, degenerated parasite in central area was observed. High prevalence of infection in camels suggests possibility of similar high rate of infection in other animals of this region. In view of the consumption of raw or undercooked visceral organs of camel by humans of this region, the importance of careful inspection at slaughterhouse needs to be emphasized.

A Review of Zoonotic Pathogens of Dromedary Camels

“…n = 1 (Ashford 2000;Sazmand et al 2012;Chhabra and Samantaray 2012;Ereqat et al 2016). Four other parasite species found in this cohort were helminths Haemonchus tataricus, Trichostrongylus hamatus, and Trichuris infundibulus n = 2; Linguatula serrata n = 7; Onchocerca volvulus n = 1; and Fasciola hepatica or Fasciola gigantica n = 1 (Sadjjadi et al 1998;McCarthy and Moore 2000;Shakerian et al 2008;Haddadzadeh et al 2010;Oryan et al 2011;Rezaei et al 2012;Anvari-Tafti et al 2013;Bamorovat et al 2014;Youssef and Uga 2014;El-Bahnasawy et al 2015;Farjanikish and Shokrani 2016).…”

Histopathological lesions compatible with nymphs of Linguatula serrata in bovine liver

“…In animals, few studies describe and characterise the inflammatory reaction triggered by L. serrata (Farjanikish and Shokrani 2016, Paredes and Muñoz 2016, Rabeeh et al 2017. In contrast, microscopic patterns of tissue reactions for each type of lesion have been described for humans, concerning the intensity of the inflammatory response, cell populations and the repair process of the surrounding tissue (Tappe et al 2006).…”