The Sunday News
IN one Sunday News issue, there was an article about how poor sanitation, more specifically lack of toilets is affecting cattle producers among communal farmers.
The article cited the increase in recorded cases of beef measles especially in gold panning areas which have high incidences of open defecation.
This week’s article builds on the beef measles issue especially its traumatising nature to a cattle producer or trader.
Beef measles (Cysticercus bovis) are small pea-sized fluid-filled cysts that contain a small immature tapeworm.
They are mainly found in the muscles of the jaw, tongue, heart and diaphragm of cattle.
They are less commonly found in other muscles of the animal.
These cysts are a stage in the lifecycle of a tapeworm of man (Taenia saginata) which grows to four to 10 metres in length. Human beings become infected by eating raw or undercooked meat containing a cyst. Once swallowed the immature tapeworm in the cyst is liberated and attaches itself to the small intestinal wall.
It develops into an adult tapeworm in two to three months and can survive for 25 years or longer.
The parasite has a lifecycle moving between the definitive or final host (people) and the intermediate host (cattle for measles in beef, pigs for measles in pork).
The adult tapeworms live in the intestines of human beings. When the tapeworm segments containing eggs are passed in stools they contaminate the environment, particularly if people do not use proper toilets but choose to use the veld.
Cattle are infected by eating the eggs when grazing. Pigs are infected by eating eggs passed in human feaces.
Within the cattle and pigs, the eggs hatch and develop into larvae living in cysts in the muscles. This is measles which can be beef measles if its cattle or pork measles if its pigs.
Other sources of beef measles infections of cattle are paddocks that have been contaminated with septic tank drainage, properties that have neighbouring camp-sites or properties frequented by people including where human feaces are not properly disposed of.
In both cattle and pigs the signs seen at slaughtering are white cysts in the muscles.
The cysts are easy to see in pigs (they are about 1cm in diameter) but are often smaller and more difficult to see in the case of cattle (maybe only 2–3 mm in diameter).
There are usually not many cysts in the case of beef measles, but many for pork measles because pigs eat human feaces in which the egg concentration is high. The cysts are usually seen by meat inspectors in abattoirs after slaughter.
Standard quality assurance practices, recommended sanitation and routine safe food handling should greatly reduce the chance of ingesting contaminated meat and/or incurring losses from excessive carcass trimming or condemnation due to beef measles.
Do not let human waste come into contact with swine and beef feeds or environments; wash hands after going to the bathroom, after handling animals and before eating; deworm livestock as recommended by veterinarians; treat people who are infected with tape worms so that the circle is broken; eat well cooked meat to avoid ingesting the tape worm.
While beef measles may not mean much to an ordinary person, it certainly can be traumatising for farmers or livestock traders at the point of sale.
This is the disease which causes carcass condemnation and those that have had carcasses condemned know exactly what I mean when I say the disease can be traumatic.
Imagine a farmer who has taken his giant ox to the abattoir for sale, incurring a number of costs along the way such as transport, levies and clearance fees and then you are told that your ox has been condemned and the carcass is being burnt and you are to go home empty handed notwithstanding the fact that the transporter is waiting by the gate for his payment.
It is also human nature that when one is expecting some money the spending levels increase which means you will have borrowed from this person and that person in anticipation of paying back after selling your beast.
However, farmers need to know that some abattoirs now have an insurance scheme meant to cushion them from the unpleasant case of carcass condemnation.
You have the choice to take that insurance before your animal is slaughtered and you can get 50 percent of the value of your animal in case it gets condemned. As they say half a loaf is better than nothing.
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