The prevalence of bovine cysticercosis was established using routine postmortem inspection of 3450
carcasses of buffaloes slaughtered in 2014 in Kaliouba governorate, among which 313 (9.07%) were detected
as harbouring cysticercosis lesions using meat inspection process. The cysts were examined macroscopically
for description of their morphology and constituents and classified as viable or degenerating. Viable cysts were
microscopically confirmed for demonstration of protoscolex. Out of 100 of patients offered taenicidal drugs
examined by microscopic examination through direct and sedimentation of fecal samples, 6 (6%) were positive
for Taenia saginata (T. saginata) eggs. Histological sections of 6 gravid proglottids were identified as
T. saginata. We used a biomolecular assay targeting the HDP2 gene for developing PCR assay in 20 viable
cysts and 6 gravid proglottids. An HDP2 gene-PCR amplification product of the taeniid samples of T. saginata
is approximately 599bp. Partial sequences were generated after gel purification of PCR amplified products of
HDP2 gene with sequence analysis and subsequent phylogeny to compare these sequences to those from
known strains of T. saginata circulating globally and retrieved from GenBank. Most isolates with accession No.
KT027580 are closely related to T. saginata based on the similarity of nucleotide sequences and phylogenetic
relationships. In conclusion, this work indicated high prevalence rate of bovine cysticercosis and T. saginata,
both morphological examination of the parasite and molecular analysis using bioinformatic tools identified the
metacestode and revealed typical taeniid features confirmed to Taenia saginata |
