Major metacestodes in cattle slaughtered at Wolaita Soddo Municipal abattoir, Southern Ethiopia: prevalence, cyst viability, organ distribution and socioeconomic implications.

A cross sectional study to determine the prevalence and socioeconomic importance of major metacestodes of cattle was conducted from November 2007 to April 2008 at Wolaita Soddo abattoir. Accordingly, of 415 randomly selected slaughtered cattle, 11.3% and 15.4% were infected with Cysticercus bovis and hydatid cysts, respectively. The anatomical distributions of these parasites include various organs. The major risk factors for cysticercosis prevalence were origin of the animals (P < 0.001, OR = 7.3) and breeds (P = 0.004, OR = 4.3), and hydatid cysts prevalence was significantly varied with different origins (P = 0.021, OR = 2.8). The viability of C. bovis was higher (28.3%) than that of hydatid cyst (1.7%). Of 79 interviewed respondents, 50.63% had acquired taeniasis and analysis of the risk factors showed association of religions (P = 0.003, OR = 24.4), occupation (P < 0.001, OR = 6.9), educational background (P = 0.035, OR = 2.7) and age (P < 0.001, OR = 3.9) of the respondents with taeniasis prevalence. Furthermore, the inventory of taeniasis drugs dose and treatment cost were estimated to be 335,772 adult doses and 93,310 USD. In conclusion, the findings of the present study imply the zoonotic and socioeconomic importance of the diseases, which need intervention.