Levantamento de Fasciola hepatica em bovinos na mesorregião metropolitana de Belo Horizonte

Abstract

Fasciola hepatica is a digenetic trematode that parasites the hepatic parenchyma and bile ducts of ruminants and other mammals, including humans. Fasciolosis causes great losses in livestock raising worldwide due to, among others, the loss of weight, production and quality loss of milk, meat and wool and condemning livers at the slaughterhouse. In Brazil, the fasciolosis is expanding, with the greatest enzootic area being the south region. In Minas Gerais, there are isolated records in every region, with new cases in regions previously considered free being reported. The identification of F. hepatica can be initiated during the slaughter, however, the animal commerce between free and enzootic regions, just as the lack of knowledge about the parasite characteristics and the infection dynamics and of the disease itself lead to misleading epidemiological data. For this reason, the objective of the study was to make a characterization of the F. hepatica in condemned bovine livers in Minas Gerais, such as, a coproparasitologic survey for F. hepatica in counties in the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte. For it, condemned liver data was obtained through the Management of Product Inspection (GIP) of the Mineiro Agriculture Institute (IMA) to analyze the yearly number of cases and the by regions of the state for analysis. Considering the interval of 2009 and 2018, the data obtained by this work presented a lower liver condemnation rate in 2009 and higher in 2015, with a positive tendency for the number of fasciolosis in Minas Gerais. For morphological confirmation of F. hepatica, a survey on F. hepatica in the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte (RMBH) was started. Of the 70 bovine livers sent by slaughterhouses to the Veterinary Helminthology Laboratory on ICB/UFMG, 60% weren't infected by F. hepatica. However, when utilizing the four tamises technique to recover parasite eggs on animals originated on positive farms inserted in the Itaguara county and Crucilândia, it was observed that 66% of the farms had positive bovines, with an infection rate between 18,18% and 66,66%. In the two farms with the biggest infection rate on bovines (47,5% and 66,66%) F. hepatica eggs were found in the feces of equines that shared the space, being this the first report of F. hepatica in equines in Minas Gerais. Along with this collection, a form was applied on the owners of the farms, with the direct observation of the landscape of the property. The data acquired showed that incorrect handle associated with environmental conditions favor the parasite cycle and exert direct influence on the infection rate.