Occurrence of Sarcocystis gigantea macrocysts and high frequency of S. tenella microcysts in sheep from southern Brazil.

The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of sarcocysts in sheep slaughtered in the Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil. Heart and esophagus samples from 130 sheep were subjected to macroscopic and microscopic examination, followed by molecular analysis. Ten sheep (7.7%) had Sarcocystis gigantea macrocysts in esophagus, as identified by gene sequencing. Microcysts were present in 96.1% of the sheep, with a higher frequency (p < .05) in the heart (91.5%) compared to the esophagus (81.5%) samples. The microcysts were identified as Sarcocystis tenella by gene sequencing. Our results revealed a high frequency of Sarcocystis spp. infection in sheep from southern Brazil. To the authors knowledge, this is the first molecular confirmation of S. gigantea presence in Brazil.