Abstract
Sheep and goats are among other herbivorous animals that serve as intermediate hosts (containing the larval stage Cysticercus tenuicollis) of Taenia hydatigena tapeworm. This infection can lead to serious complications or cause death. The genetic diversity and epidemiological significance of cysticercosis due to T. hydatigena is poorly understood. We examined 11,651 goats and 23,542 sheep slaughtered at the municipal abattoir in Makkah, for C. tenuicollis infection. The resulted DNA sequences were compared with previously available sequences from different hosts. Phylogenetic analysis and Pairwise nucleotide variations of cox1 gene were performed. Sheep and goats revealed infection rates of (4.95%) and (4.75%) respectively. DNA sequence analysis of all isolates from both sheep and goats showed that the total haplotypes number was 7. T. hydatigena population with high haplotypes diversity values. The nucleotide diversity was low, while Tajima’s D and Fu’s tests were negative (with no statistical significance). The present work will give valuable information regarding the prevalence and implementation of control and prevention measures of C. tenuicollis.