Prevalence and Morphological Characteristics of Taenia multiceps Cysts (Coenurus Cerebralis) from Abattoir-Slaughtered and Experimentally Infected Goats

One hundred and forty nine indigenous goats slaughtered at the Tete municipal abattoir, Mozambique, and fifty seven goats experimentally infected with Taenia multiceps eggs were inspected to determine the prevalence, predilection sites and morphological characteristic of cysts and scoleces of T. multiceps. The experimentally infected goats of mixed sexes were divided into Group one (28 animals slaughtered at 10 weeks post-infection) and Group two (29 animals slaughtered at 22 weeks post-infection). Each animal was experimentally infected with 3000 eggs of T. multiceps recuperated from experimentally infected dogs. The prevalence of infection was 14.8% in the naturally infected goats, 78.6% for Group 1 and 82.8% for Group 2 of the experimentally infected goats. The muscle and subcutaneous tissues were the most common anatomic location of cysts in both the naturally and experimentally infected (Group 1 and 2) goats with a prevalence of 9.1%, 82% and 75% respectively and this was followed by the brain in the naturally infected (8.5%), and Group 2 (11.4%) and the heart and mesentery (4.5%) in Group 2. In the abattoir-slaughtered goats, animals with one cyst were more frequent in both muscular and subcutaneous tissues (73.3%) and brain (75%) and fewer animals were found to harbor two or more cysts.