Occurrence of Linguatula serrata nymphs in cattle slaughtered in Tabriz, Iran

The Linguatula serrata is a tongue-shaped parasite that infects carnivores or insectivorous reptile as final and herbivores as intermediate host. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of nymphal stages of L. serrata in mesenteric nodes (MLN) and mediastinal lymph nodes of cattle slaughtered in Tabriz slaughterhouse, North West of Iran. Mesenteric and mediastinal lymph nodes of 640 cattle of different sex and age were inspected. A digestion method was applied for investigation of samples revealing an infection prevalence of 18.9 %. The MLNs in 97 cattle out of 640 (15.1 %) and the mediastinal lymph nodes in 47 cattle out of 640 (7.3 %) were infected by L. serrata nymphs. The results showed infection rate of mesenteric lymph nodes higher than mediastinal mesenteric lymph nodes ( P