FOOD SAFETY: FAO highlights ‘often neglected’ foodborne parasites.

 Officials have published a document highlighting ways to avoid the risks from foodborne parasites transmitted by pork, freshwater fish and crustaceans.

Foodborne parasitic diseases are often neglected in food safety control systems even though they can cause severe human health problems, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

One challenge is that affected animals might not show signs of disease, making it difficult for farmers and authorities to detect a problem. Also, if there are no production or financial losses associated with the parasite in animals, there is no incentive to control them.

The FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific publication reports different types of parasitic diseases can be transmitted to humans from pork, fish, freshwater crustaceans, vegetables, eggs of tapeworms, and protozoa.

Preventing human exposure to foodborne parasites can be the responsibility of a veterinary or food safety authority in some countries, while in others, there are no controls for parasites.

    Parasites from plants and meat

Fascioliasis is caused by two species of flatworms called Fasciola hepatica and Fasciola gigantica. It is acquired by eating raw plants such as watercress and other freshwater cultivated or wild plants, or by drinking contaminated water. It is mainly an animal disease but does occasionally affect people.

Young parasites can cause abdominal pain, fever and diarrhea. Once they reach the lungs, symptoms can include a chronic productive cough, chest pain, and sometimes fever. Signs can be similar to those of tuberculosis or lung cancer. Humans can be treated for adult flukes with triclabendazole.

Eating raw aquatic vegetable harvested from or near grazing lands should be avoided. Rinsing them is not enough and freezing is not recommended, according to the FAO. The parasite can be killed by cooking vegetables at 60 degrees C (140 degrees F) for several minutes. continue

AGRIBUSINESS: LIVER FLUKE IN CATTLE.

AGRIBUSINESS: LIVER FLUKE IN CATTLE. A liver fluke is a parasitic worm that commonly live off of cattle, sheep and other livestock.Cattle can pick them up while out at pasture, and if not treated can drastically affect their performance, and cause liver damage. The disease they cause is called fascioliasis. Cattle typically develop chronic disease and classically show loss of weight, condition and become anaemic. Liver fluke-related disease can become acute and even fatal.However, if the offending liver flukes mature into adult egg-laying parasites, it can lead to severe liver damage depending on the number. Cattle infected with liver fluke are considered to be more susceptible to other infections,that is why it is so important to deal with liver fluke early. HOW TO DEAL WITH LIVER FLUKE 1: IDENTIFY RISK If you are aware of high risk areas for liver fluke, then deal with them as soon as possible. Fence off wet areas, attend to leaky troughs and pipes, drainage or housing early.If you have lost any sheep, investigate this, as this can be an early indication of fluke risk for your cattle. 2: TREAT APPROPRIATELY Cattle cannot pick up liver fluke when they are housed, however if they are not, it has the potential to put their growth rates well below market weight. Correct treatment means using the right product, at the right time, using the correct dose rate and administering it the right way. Never underdose your cattle for liver fluke, and do not assume that one size fits all when you’re measuring doses. Base your measurement off your heaviest animal for a group of cattle. Do not overdose your cattle either as this can encourace resistance to liver fluke treatments. If you have a large variation in weights, group them to ensure an accurate dose rate. If the treatment comes in the form of an injection, ensure it goes under the skin and not into the muscle. 3: AVOID RESISTANCE Over-reliance or overdosing on a flukicide can lead to drug resistance growing in liver fluke.It is important that you have an effective plan for cattle that reduces the risk of resistance spreading. Treatment: Among the products that kill liver flukes are Ivomec® Plus (Merial); Valbazen® (Pfizer) and Noromectin® PLUS (Norbrook),triclobendazole, nitroxynil 34% and 3 Levanor plus.

How animal parasites find a home in humans.

How animal parasites find a home in humans. There has been a lot of buzz recently about a video shared by Oregon woman Abby Beckley, who describes removing worms from her eye. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a case report documenting Beckley’s infection as the first human case of the cattle eyeworm Thelazia gulosa. We certainly feel for Beckley having to go through this ordeal, and without a doubt, felt our skin crawl just thinking about it. But aside from the “creep” factor of this case, it does makes us wonder how a cow parasite ever ended up in a human eye. And it begs the more fundamental question: How are animal parasites able to infect humans? To answer this question, we need to understand more about parasites and their ecology. As a veterinarian and disease ecologist, my research examines what ecological factors influence the emergence of zoonoses — diseases that spread from animals to humans. The case of the cattle eyeworms is certainly intriguing. Transmission of parasites from one host to another can occur through several routes, depending on where the parasite resides in the host and how it is shed, for example through feces, blood or other bodily secretions. Direct contact, consumption of contaminated water or food (Cryptosporidium, Giardia), or via a vector like a tick or mosquito are all possible. Parasitic infections transmitted from animals to humans have occurred naturally throughout history.