Vet World   Vol.14   May-2021  Article-13

Hepatic biomarkers and coprology as indicators of clinical bovine fasciolosis in Chad

Background and Aim: Fasciolosis is a cosmopolitan parasitic disease of food-producing animals and is typically caused by digenetic trematodes, Fasciola gigantica and Fasciola hepatica. It has a direct negative impact on the liver and consequently affects liver metabolism. It has indirect effects, including lowered milk production and effects on quality and general health conditions leading to extensive economic losses. This study aimed to focus on the link between clinical fasciolosis and some biochemical analysis of the hepatic profile of cattle in Chad.

Materials and Methods: This study was initiated in response to emerging complaints from dairy cattle owners detecting a bitter milk cream and butter taste. Furthermore, those animals had shown poor health conditions by presenting with diarrhea. Preliminary surveillance for possible causes was performed, including fecal and serum biochemical analyses and clinical observation to diagnose the possible disease.

Results: The results obtained, including the finding of parasite stages during the coprological examination, confirmed the role of fasciolosis. The independent sample t-test indicated highly significantly altered values of all biochemical liver indicators in the infected animals. All animals were treated with two doses of rafoxanide (3 mg/kg b.w.) S/C, at 21 days intervals, with vitamin supplements, mineral mixtures, and food additives. Surprisingly, the main complaint was restored after treatment. This is another evident clue of fasciolosis. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first recent study that diagnosed fasciolosis in Chad.

Conclusion: This study emphasized the importance of fasciolosis, its negative impact on milk taste, and the necessity for veterinary advice regarding routine examination and prophylactic measures, especially before autumn, to minimize economic losses. However, regardless of the small sample size, this study could serve as a cornerstone for future studies on evaluating the accurate epidemiological status of fasciolosis in Chad. This study reported a close association between the alteration of liver enzymes and total protein levels in fasciolosis and the bitter milk cream taste, which could be used as a diagnostic tool for fasciolosis. Keywords: chad, coprology, fasciolosis, hepatic biomarkers.

Keywords: chad, coprology, fasciolosis, hepatic biomarkers.

How to cite this article: Elshahawy II, Elshanat S, Arab MM, Nayel M, Salama A, El-Sify A, Aly M (2021) Hepatic biomarkers and coprology as indicators of clinical bovine fasciolosis in Chad, Veterinary World, 14(5): 1153-1157.

Received: 16-12-2020  Accepted: 24-03-2021     Published online: 12-05-2021

Corresponding author: Mahmoud Aly   E-mail: mahmoudaly@vet.usc.edu.eg

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2021.1153-1157

Copyright: Elshahawy, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.