Table 2.
Parasites in raw meat based diets with their potential intermediate and final hosts along with summary of literature reported.
Parasite | Intermediate hosts | Definitive hosts | Sampling details | Literature available |
---|---|---|---|---|
Echinococcus granulosus | Domestic ungulates | Mostly dogs sometimes cats | N/A | N/A |
Sarcocystis spp | Domestic ungulates | Dogs | 35 Commercial frozen RMBD's | S. cruzi in 11% of diets based on bovine meat and S.tenella in 11% of diets based on bovine or sheep meat [13] |
Toxoplasma gondii | Many mammals and birds | Domestic Cats | Frozen commercial BARF diet | 6% samples positive for T. gondii [13] |
Neospora caninum | Domestic ungulates as well as dogs | Dogs | Fresh raw meat | 6 (37.5%) of the 16 seropositive (16 on 218 samples; 7.33%) bitches positive of N. caninum [55] |
Cryptosporidium spp. | Vertebrate host (dogs, cats, humans and livestock) on consumption of contaminated food and water or contact with infected animal. | – | Commercial BARF diets containing raw bovine meat or raw turkey meat in canned food | 2.11% of samples tested positive to Cryptosporidium spp. [65] |
Trichinella. Spp | Two generations in the single vertebrate host (humans, pigs, horses acting both as definitive and potential intermediate host | – | N/A | N/A |
N/A = Not Available.
(−) = No definitive hosts.