Sarcocystis and sarcocystosis in India: status and emerging perspectives

Abstract

Sarcocystis spp. are a group of tissue cystforming coccidia which infect a vast range of animals as well as human beings. Found frequently in animal carcasses at slaughter, undermining their value, they have also been found associated with clinical disease. Dogs and cats are involved in the transmission. Studies in India point to a vast reservoir of infection with high prevalence rates in various livestock species. However, there is a glaring paucity of reports on the horse and Sarcocystis of the camel has remained totally unexplored so far. At least two different Sarcocystis spp. can parasitize each livestock host species. Experimental transmission studies have provided additional parameters for distinguishing the species. The clinical symptoms are generally non-specific and diagnosis in the living animal, by the presently available means, is almost impossible. Immunodiagnosis till now is beset with problem of cross-reactivity. Treatment with anti-coccidials presently tried do not seem satisfactory. Of the two zoonotic species with cattle-man and pig-man cycles, only the latter seems of some significance in India due to backyard pig-rearing and slaughter practices. It is a paradox that despite high prevalence of S. suihominis in pigs, reports of human cases are limited. This and some of the existing grey areas of information in the Indian context, have been highlighted as also possible directions for future research.

Anti-parasitic activity of polyether ionophores

“…Thus, carboxylic ionophores have been tried in a few instances to treat sarcocystosis in animals. For example, maduramicin (Figure 1) at a dose of 150 mg kg -1 given orally to pups experimentally infected with Sarcocystis for 5 days starting from the day when sporocysts were found in the faeces for the first time, resulted in almost 97% reduction in sporocysts production [197,198]. Salinomycin (Figure 1) has been shown to prevent or to reduce acute sarcocystosis in some domestic animals [194,199,200].…”

“…Salinomycin (Figure 1) has been shown to prevent or to reduce acute sarcocystosis in some domestic animals [194,199,200]. At a dosage of 4 and 5 mg kg -1 , salinomycin was found to treat effectively experimental sarcocystosis in dogs and goats, respectively [197,201].…”

Prevalence of Muscular Sarcosporidiosis in Slaughtered Domestic Pigs in Perak, Peninsular Malaysia

“…However, S. suihominis has received more attention in medical communities due to its impact on public health because it infects humans who serve as its definitive host (Banerjee et al 1994;Chhabra & Samantaray 2013;Dubey et al 1989;Fayer 2004;Juyal 1991;Tappe et al 2013).…”

A Review of Zoonotic Pathogens of Dromedary Camels

“…n = 1, and Sarcocystis spp. 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).…”