The major economic losses associated to coenurosis in small ruminants are abattoir brain condemnation, time and loss of energy to dissect the brain of small ruminants for export purpose (Adane et al., 2015) Shepherds or the owner often facilitate the contamination of the environment by opening the skull of infected sheep leaving the Coenurus cyst free to be eaten by dogs or feeding them directly with the definitive host (Scala and Varcasia, 2006)
to get rid of Gid or Coenurosis which is a disease of the central nervous system in sheep caused by Coenurus cerebralis, the larval stage of Taenia multiceps, a tape worm, which infests the small intestine of carnivores.
Coenurus cerebralis infection in Ethiopian Highland sheep: Incidence and observations on pathogenesis and clinical signs.
Adult tapeworms develop in dogs or other canines that ingest
coenurus larvae in the tissues of various intermediate hosts (Figure 6-45).
Keywords:
Coenurus cyst; palpebral sub-conjunctiva; sheep
Laboratory investigation confirmed it as a
Coenurus cerebralis cyst.
Coenurus cerebralis is the larval form of Taenia multiceps which lives in small intestines of carnivores (Christodoulopoulos, 2007).
Involvement of brain may produce nervous symptoms like 'gid' caused by
Coenurus cerebralis and thus oestrosis is also referred as 'false gid' (Soulsby, 1992; Sharma et al., 2014).
Coenurus cysts with multiple scolices recorded from brain and spinal cord of sheep and goat have been identified as
Coenurus cerebralis, while those from connective tissues and visceral organs are considered as C.
Coenurus gaigeri were known to occur in domestic and wild animals in India (Varma et al.).
Non-cerebral coenurosis caused by
Coenurus gaigeri, a metacestode of Taenia gaigeri is a zoonotic disease.
Upon ingestion of eggs, oncospheres escape from the eggs, penetrate the gut wall and enters the circulation and form fluid filled bladder like cysts in various tissues called
coenurus. Most commonly the cyst develops in the brain and spinal cord of the animals and affects the central nervous system (Moghaddar, 2007).
