Prevalence and distribution of Sarcocystis spp. cysts in several muscles of cattle slaughtered in Sicily, Southern Italy

The aim of this study was to analyse the Sarcocystis spp. infection rate in 22 muscles of cattle, also assessing the diagnostic performance (i.e., sensitivity and concordance) of some non-target muscles. Sarcocysts were detected in the 96% of animals. The 48% of subjects had from 6 to 12 infected muscles while only the 6% had up to 21 positive muscles. The highest rate of infection, 74%, was observed in the heart but the sensitivity registered for some non-target muscle was also acceptable, as in the case of the musculus urethralis with a sensitivity of 59.5%. For this reason, if this site (containing the disseminated prostate) is used for the histological screening of forbidden hormonal treatment, it can allow to find the parasitosis improving the related surveillance activity. (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd.