Pathological findings of condemned bovine liver specimens andassociated economic loss at Nyabugogo abattoir, Kigali, Rwanda

Abstract
There are no published abattoir bovine hepatic lesion prevalence studies in cattle in Rwanda. This studyestimated that 12.3% of the livers (n = 4751) examined at Nyabugogo slaughterhouse in Kigali were con-demned. Condemnation prejudiced the nation of 3492.00 kg of meat with attendant economic losses ofUS$8932.40 during the study period. Risk factors for these lesions were also assessed. Male and femaleanimals from 11 districts were used in this study. Hepatic lesions were higher in females (14.6%; n = 1494)than in males (11.1%; n = 3257). About 78.7% of the condemnations were due to fascioliasis, followed byabscesses (5.7%), hepatitis (5.3%), cirrhosis (4%) and other lesions (6.3%). Female animal livers showedmore fascioliasis and abscesses (82.2% and 9.5%) than male animal livers (73.3% and 3.3%). The high-est rate of condemnation was observed from Kayonza (40.2%; n = 413) and the least was from Gakenkedistrict (0.9%; n = 1031). Cattle from the Eastern Province showed significantly (P < 0.05) higher preva-lence of condemnations (26.8%) than the rest of the provinces. Liver specimens of animals below 3 yearsand above 6 years of age had a significantly higher (P < 0.05) condemnation rate (14.4%) (n = 3000 andn = 769) than the 3–6 year age-group at 4.1% (n = 982). We conclude that fascioliasis was responsible fora significant proportion of the liver condemnations at Nyabugogo slaughterhouse. Being a zoonosis, werecommend an epidemio-surveillance, implementation of control measures and anthelmintic resistanceinvestigation for fascioliasis in Rwanda.
Description
Keywords
Bovine, Rwanda, Liver condemnation
Citation
Habarunga, G., Mbasinga, G., Mushonga, B., et al. (2016). Pathological findings of condemned bovine liver specimens andassociated economic loss at Nyabugogo abattoir, Kigali, Rwanda. Acta Tropica, 164, 27-32.