Bovine fascioliasis is an important zoonotic parasitic disease that causes significant economic losses to the livestock industry. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and risk factors of bovine fascioliasis in Kelantan. In this cross-sectional study, a total of 308 stool and blood samples of farmed cattle were collected from December 2017 to June 2018. The stool samples were examined microscopically for the presence of Fasciola spp. eggs following a formalin-ether sedimentation process. The blood samples were subjected to a commercial ELISA kit (Bio-X-Diagnostic, Rochefort, Belgium) for the detection of anti-Fasciola IgG antibody. The association between coprological findings and risk factors was determined using Pearson's chi-square (χ2). The coproprevalence and seroprevalence of bovine fascioliasis was 14.6% and 37.3%, respectively. There were significant (P < 0.05) associations between the risk of infections and the sex, type of feedings, anthelmintic treatment and farm hygiene. Female cattle (OR: 3.104; 95% CI: 1.265, 7.615), feeding by grazing (OR: 4.458; 95% CI: 1.823, 10.90), untreated cattle (OR: 3.833; 95% CI: 1.620, 9.071), non-schedule anthelminthic treatment (OR: 3.927; 95% CI: 1.685, 9.152) and farm that have never been cleaned (OR: 2.829; 95% CI: 1.428, 5.608) showed higher odds of Fasciola spp. infection. These findings suggested bovine fascioliasis is a serious veterinary disease in Kelantan. Thus, appropriate control, prevention and monitoring strategies of this parasitic infection are urgently needed to reduce the burden of the disease.
Fascioliasis is an important zoonotic disease prevalent in domestic animals and it leads to socioeconomic impact in rural farming communities of the developing world. The gold standard diagnosis of ruminant fascioliasis involves coprological detection of Fasciola spp. eggs or recovery of flukes in infected livers. Coprological analysis is unreliable in the patent period of chronic infection, and even then, its sensitivity is relatively low. Robust diagnostic tools that can promptly and accurately detect an active infection are crucial to avoid complications and further losses in ruminant livestock productivity, as well as to preserve the livelihood of communities at risk. Immunodiagnosis determined by antibody and antigen detection in the sera and faeces of infected ruminants provides a valuable alternative to the parasitological diagnostic approach. This review discusses current developments in immunological techniques by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in the detection of ruminant fascioliasis and summarises the performance of various ELISAs in studies conducted to date. Indirect ELISAs demonstrated effective immunodiagnostic performance with high sensitivities and specificities. Cathepsin L ELISA is the most favourable antigen in serodiagnosis, among other recombinant and native proteins evaluated. Sandwich ELISA provides excellent sensitivity and specificity, which correlates well with the fluke burden. Utilising monoclonal antibodies in sandwich ELISA reduces the detection time and performance variations that commonly occur in polyclonal antibody ELISA.