First recorded outbreak of Paramphistomum cervi in Andaman local goats (Capra aegagrus hircus) from Bay island of India: A brief communication

Abstract

This communication reports an outbreak of immature paramphistomiosis in Andaman local goats (Capra aegagrus hircus) along with report of mortality and gross as well as histopathological changes. During the month of September, 2021 there was report of 38.57% mortality in goats which was investigated in depth. Outbreak occurred at South Andaman district where goats were reared under semi intensive managerial system and allowed to graze in the morning in surrounding marshy land. The affected animals showed the symptoms of immature amphistomiasis; it was further confirmed on necropsy and identification of causative organism as Paramphistomum cervi based on its typical morphological features. Histopathological examination showed damaged structure of rumen with typical degenerative changes and initiation of necrotic changes of cells with infiltration of inflammatory cells. We report the outbreak of immature amphistomiasis for the first time from Andaman and Nicobar archipelago along with the causative agent.

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Indian Journal of Animal Sciences 93 (1): 29–32, January 2023/Article
https://doi.org/10.56093/ijans.v93i1.121552
First recorded outbreak of Paramphistomum cervi in Andaman local goats
(Capra aegagrus hircus) from Bay island of India: A brief communication
T SUJATHA1, S MONDAL2, A K D E1, P PERUMAL1, S SAWHNEY1, P A BALA1, J SUNDER1,
J PRAVEENRAJ1, D BHATTACHARYA1* and E B CHAKURKAR1
ICAR-Central Island Agricultural Research Institute, Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands 744 105 India
and
West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences, Kolkata, West Bengal 700 037 India
Received: 17 February 2022; Accepted: 18 October 2022
ABSTRACT
This communication reports an outbreak of immature paramphistomiosis in Andaman local goats (Capra
aegagrus hircus) along with report of mortality and gross as well as histopathological changes. During the month of
September, 2021 there was report of 38.57% mortality in goats which was investigated in depth. Outbreak occurred
at South Andaman district where goats were reared under semi intensive managerial system and allowed to graze in
the morning in surrounding marshy land. The aected animals showed the symptoms of immature amphistomiasis;
it was further conrmed on necropsy and identication of causative organism as Paramphistomum cervi based on
its typical morphological features. Histopathological examination showed damaged structure of rumen with typical
degenerative changes and initiation of necrotic changes of cells with inltration of inammatory cells. We report
the outbreak of immature amphistomiasis for the rst time from Andaman and Nicobar archipelago along with the
causative agent.
Keywords: Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Goats, Immature amphistomiasis, Outbreak
Present address: 1ICAR-Central Island Agricultural Research
Institute, Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands. 2West Bengal
University of Animal and Fishery Sciences, 7 and 68 Kshudiram
Bose Sarani, Kolkata, West Bengal. *Corresponding author
email: debasis63@redimail.com
Immature paramphistomiosis is yet a very poorly
understood disease of ruminants and falls under the
category of neglected disease (Hajipour et al. 2021) and
often remains undiagnosed (Phiri et al. 2007). It results in
high death rates, reduced weight gain and milk production
(Chaudhry et al. 2017). The disease is rampant in most
parts of the world especially in Africa, Asia, Europe and
Australia (Dube and Aisien 2010, Huson et al. 2017).
Moreover, it has been declared as emerging problem in
UK and Ireland (Murphy et al. 2008, Gordon et al. 2013).
These parasites are commonly known as rumen uke;
there are four genera of rumen uke: Paramphistomum,
Cotylophoron, Calicophoron and Ceylonocotyle. Dierent
species of rumen uke are seen in dierent parts of
the world. The most common species, Calicophoron
calicophorum is mostly reported from Australia (Rengel et
al. 2003). Another predominant species Paramphistomum
cervi is seen throughout the globe. Likewise Cotylophoron
cotylophorum is also cosmopolitan in distribution except
in northern temperate zone. Ceylonocotyle is restricted in
India and Australia (Soulsby 1982, Hotessa and Kalo 2020).
Immature paramphistomiosis is a major problem in
Indian subcontinent. The uke causes havoc mortality in
small domestic ruminants. Mortality rate may reach up
to 75-88% (Dutt 1980, Choudhury 1994, Agrawal 2003).
Prevalence and outbreak of immature amphistomiasis has
been reported from Northern (Vohra et al. 2016, Jaiswal
et al. 2018) and also from Southern part of India (Pavan
Kumar et al. 2014). A perusal of available literature
suggests that, till date species of amphistome has not
been reported in domestic ruminants from ANI except
in elephants in 1970s (Mukherjee and Chauhan 1972).
We describe here the rst recorded outbreak of immature
amphistomiosis in Andaman local goats and rst report of
the species of rumen uke from Bay island of India.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Study area and samples: Andaman and Nicobar Islands
(ANI) is a union territory of India consisting of 572 islands;
only 38 are inhabited and comprise of tropical rainforest
canopy. These groups of islands are separated from the rest
of the world by natural geographical barrier.
The outbreak occurred in Mithakhari village of South
Andaman district, Andaman and Nicobar Islands in
September, 2021. In this village, a total of 70 Andaman
local goats were reared under semi intensive management
system. During day time, animals were allowed to graze in

SUJATHA ET AL. [Indian Journal of Animal Sciences 93 (1)
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the nearby water logged marshy land since the weather was
wet throughout the month of September, 2021 with 554 mm
rainfall over 30 days. Aected animals exhibited symptoms
of weakness, cachexia, distension of the abdomen, bottle
jaw, profuse diarrhoea and ultimately death. Post mortem
examination of dead animals was done and lesions were
documented.
Processing of samples: Portion of rumen infested
with worms were collected and xed in Bouin’s uid
at room temperature. After xation of tissue samples,
routine histopathological sections were prepared. In brief,
samples were dehydrated by ascending grades of alcohol
(70-100%). Following dehydration, the samples were
cleaned in benzene and nally impregnated in paran.
After preparation of paran block, sections of 5 µM
thickness were made and nally stained with haematoxylin
and eosin. Digital photomicrographs were taken using
Leica DM 2000 microscope.
Isolated immature worms were further attened in
between two glass slides and xed in Bouin’s uid for
24 h at room temperature. Further, samples were stained by
conventional borax-carmine stain and identied following
standard methodology.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Immature amphistomiasis is a neglected trematode
disease of ruminants and is responsible for economic loss
(Hajipour et al. 2021). The incidence of the disease in goat
varies from 18.26 to 91% (Singh et al. 2015). Apart from
India (Swarnkar and Singh 2012, Pavan Kumar et al. 2014,
Vohra et al. 2016, Jaiswal et al. 2018), the disease has been
reported from Pakistan (Farooq et al. 2012), Bangladesh
(Hossain et al. 2015), Thailand (Sangvaranond et al. 2010)
and Malaysia (Tan et al. 2017). This parasitic infection
is responsible for economic losses through morbidity,
mortality, reduced meat and milk production, reproductive
disorders and expenditure on the purchase of anthelmintic
(Mogdy et al. 2009). Production loss occurs since the
parasite is responsible for lower nutrition conversion
(Horak 1971). It has been estimated that more than 500
million ruminants worldwide are at risk (Ristic 1988).
Further, the death rate due to immature paramphistomosis
is very high and may go up to 80-90% in young ruminants
(Shablh and Juyal 2006).
During the present study, the farmers reported mortality
of the goats (average 2-3 per day) showing the symptoms
of cachexia, abdominal pain, bloat/distension of abdomen,
abnormal accumulation of clear oedema uid under the
skin of the lower jaw (bottle jaw), profuse water diarrhoea
followed by death. Within 2 weeks, 27 goats of more than
one year age died with mortality rate of 38.57%. The high
incidence of immature paramphistomosis is attributed to
presence of stagnant water bodies due to continuous rainfall.
This was conducive for the dominance of snail population
(Indoplanorbis spp., Gyraulus spp. and Lymnaea spp.),
which in turn predisposes the release of number of cercaria
into the water and nearby forage (Shablh and Juyal 2006,
Pavan Kumar et al. 2016). During the present investigation,
it was found that the animals were raised in semi intensive
system and were also allowed to graze in the marshy land.
Examination of abdomen revealed accumulation of
straw coloured uid in the peritoneal cavity and distension
of gall bladder. Numerous immature ukes and patches
of haemorrhages were detected in the duodenum in the
intestine; they were embedded in the mucosa and reported
to be plug feeders by drawing pieces of mucosa in the
suckers. In the abomasum, there were ulcerative changes
with presence of few numbers of ukes. Numerous worms
were isolated from rumen of the aected animals. Ingestion
of large number of metacercaria settled at duodenum
caused severe haemorrhagic areas and thickening of
duodenal mucosa. Bottle jaw and ascites might be
due to hypoproteinaemia caused by immature ukes
(Radostits et al. 2010).
Fig. 1 (a-d). Histopathology of infected rumen: (a) Section
of rumen papilla showing inltration in propia-submucosa and
necrosis in lining epithelium; (b) Section of rumen showing focal
desquamation of tunica mucosal layer; (c) Section of rumen
showing huge inltration of polymorph into submucosa and
degenerative changes; (d) Section of rumen showing sloughing
tunica mucosa and vacuolar space in submucosa.
A
C
B
D
200 µm
200 µm
200 µm
200 µm
Fig. 2. Histopathology of rumen showing swollen, misshapen
cells with birefringent having vacuolar degeneration and
karyorrhexis.
50 µm

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Rumen papillae were represented with keratinized
stratied squamous epithelial cells. Rumen papillae
showed inltration in propia mucosa and there was zone
of necrosis at the lining epithelium (Fig. 1a). Section of
rumen exhibited focal degeneration of tunica mucosal layer
(Fig. 1b). The deeper layer of rumen papillae was irregular,
arranged around the central cores papillary processes,
which extended into the epithelium and rumen cavity.
Rumen showed massive inltration polymorphonuclear
leucocytes into submucosal layer along with degenerative
changes (Fig. 1c). There was sloughing of tunica
mucosa and formation of vacuolar space in submucosa
(Fig. 1d). A zone of attened cells was also found closer
to the lumen. Rumen also showed misshapen cells with
birefringent having signatures of vacuolar degeneration
and karyorrhexis (Fig. 2).
This has been depicted in the past that, adult
amphistomes in rumen do not cause any pathological
changes and infected animals become lifelong carrier
(Soulsby 1982). But the opinion was contradicted by
Basak and Sinha (1978) who reported knob inltrated
with polymorphonuclear leucocytes and such knob blood
vessels were highly congested. Subsequently, ndings of
Basak and Sinha were supported by Singh et al. (1984)
who performed study through experimental infection.
The workers observed pathological changes in the rumen
80 days post infection (pi) in goats. We could record
histopathological changes in rumen which might indicate
that, the infection was picked up from the pasture by the
Andaman local goats not less than 80 days before. As the
infection could be related with rainfall due to abundance
of snail fauna, the animals might have picked up infection
in the month of May since heavy rainfall started from May
and ended in the month of September (range: 321.90-
649.20 mm) (http://andssw1.and.nic.in/ecostat/2021/
totalrainfall.pdf). Pathological changes of rumen papillae
and cellular inltration, desquamation of epithelial cells of
rumen papillae and inltration of mononuclear cells were
documented in the past (Cankovic and Batistic 1963, Singh
et al. 1984) which are in line with our present ndings.
The isolated worms from the rumen were light pink in
colour. Anterior sucker was present at the tip of the cone
(Fig. 3a). Mouth portion was situated at the terminal end
and was funnel shaped (Fig. 3b). Caeca was serpentine in
shape (Fig. 3c), clusters of vitelline glands extended from
pharynx, reached up to posterior sucker, lie between caeca
and lateral margin of the body (Fig. 3c), and intestinal
caeca reached up to anterior end of ventral sucker (Fig.
3d). The intact worms were pear shaped, concave ventrally
with a large sub-terminal sucker (Fig. 3e) and mean length
and breadth were 428.55 ± 11.81 µM (range 380-530
µM) and 126.±2.14 25 µM (110-140 µM), respectively.
These morphological features were indistinguishable from
P. cervi (Soulsby 1982) which has been depicted as the
most common amphistome species of goat reported from
mainland of India (Dutt 1980).
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