Sarcocistosis in cattle slaughtered in slaughterhouse with federal inspection in Santa Catarina

Abstract

Human intestinal sarcocistosis is acquired by the ingestion of meat containing zoonotic cysts from mature protozoan Sarcocystis, intramuscular, bovine or porcine, evolving into an intestinal cycle after consumption of infected meat. This paper aims to identify cysts of Sarcocystis in cardiac musculature of 146 cattle slaughtered in a slaughterhouse under federal inspection, in the city of Santa Cecilia, in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. Hearts were selected and samples of the musculature were collected. Histological sections were submitted to microscopy for cysts identification. The basophilic sarcocystis, encysted between the musculature fibers, were measured for determining the species according to criteria based on the shape and thickness of the wall. Of the 146 heart tissue samples. No samples showed macroscopic cysts, and 86.6% (122) were positive for sarcocysts, identified by morphological criteria (thin wall of less than 1μm) as S. cruzi. The difficulty of diagnosing macroscopic lesions of this parasite in meat inspection at slaughterhouses ends up allowing this muscle to be commercialized.