ABSTRACT
Sarcosystosis is a cosmopolitan protozoan zoonotic infection and is caused by different species of sarcosystis. This parasite can cause contamination in many animals and cause a lot of hygienic and economic effects in society. This study was aimed to determine sarcosystis infection in slaughtered animals of Shahrekord, using hitopathological method. In this descriptive study, 70 samples were obtained from healthy goats and 70 samples were obtained from healthy sheep during summer 2008 Esophagus, thigh, diaphragm and heart of each animal were macroscopically evaluated for having sarcosystis cysts. To prepare a pathology section for microscopic examinations, hearts were kept in formalin and after providing tissue sections, samples were studied using a microscope. Data were analyzed by SPSS software. In macroscopic evaluations of diaphragm of the sheep and goats, sarcosystis cysts were detected 15.7% and 2.8%, respectively. In addition, 7.1% and 1.4% of esophagus from sheep and goats were also infected by sarcosystis, respectively. We also performed microscopic investigations on healthy hearts and found that 80% of sheep's hearts and 70% of goats' hearts were infected by sarcocystis cysts. Considering the high prevalence of sarcocystis contamination in the world and Iran [up to 100%], more studies are needed to detect sensitivity andspecificity of histhopathology method to confirm our findings. Finally looking at the our results it is likely that in healthy hearts some comments should be considered, such as appropriate meat keeping, sufficient cooking, and moving from traditional animal husbandry into industrial husbandry in future