title: Pathological findings of condemned bovine liver specimens and associated economic loss at Nyabugogo abattoir, Kigali, Rwanda.
abstract: There are no published abattoir bovine hepatic lesion prevalence studies in cattle in Rwanda. This study estimated that 12.3% of the livers (n=4751) examined at Nyabugogo slaughterhouse in Kigali were condemned. Condemnation prejudiced the nation of 3492.00kg of meat with attendant economic losses of US$8932.40 during the study period. Risk factors for these lesions were also assessed. Male and female animals 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 by abscesses (5.7%), hepatitis (5.3%), cirrhosis (4%) and other lesions (6.3%). Female animal livers showed more fascioliasis and abscesses (82.2% and 9.5%) than male animal livers (73.3% and 3.3%). The highest rate of condemnation was observed from Kayonza (40.2%; n=413) and the least was from Gakenke district (0.9%; n=1031). Cattle from the Eastern Province showed significantly (P<0.05) higher prevalence of condemnations (26.8%) than the rest of the provinces. Liver specimens of animals below 3 years and above 6 years of age had a significantly higher (P<0.05) condemnation rate (14.4%) (n=3000 and n=769) than the 3-6year age-group at 4.1% (n=982). We conclude that fascioliasis was responsible for a significant proportion of the liver condemnations at Nyabugogo slaughterhouse. Being a zoonosis, we recommend an epidemio-surveillance, implementation of control measures and anthelmintic resistance investigation for fascioliasis in Rwanda.
authors.affiliation: School of Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, College of Agriculture, Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, University of Rwanda, Rwanda. Electronic address: gervaish@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Gervais
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Habarugira
authors.affiliation: School of Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, College of Agriculture, Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, University of Rwanda, Rwanda.
authors.forename: Gloria
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mbasinga
authors.affiliation: School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Namibia, Namibia.
authors.forename: Borden
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mushonga
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural Economics and Animal Production, University of Limpopo, South Africa.
authors.forename: Teedzai
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chitura
authors.affiliation: School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Namibia, Namibia.
authors.forename: Erick
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kandiwa
authors.affiliation: School of Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, College of Agriculture, Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, University of Rwanda, Rwanda.
authors.forename: Lonzy
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ojok
mesh_terms: D000003:Abattoirs; D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D005211:Fascioliasis / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D008099:Liver / Q000469:parasitology; D008297:Male; D008460:Meat; D012432:Rwanda
keywords: Bovine; Fascioliasis; Liver condemnation; Rwanda