Cattle grub infestation by Hypoderma sp. in Albania and risks for European countries

In order to estimate the presence and the seroprevalence of hypodermosis in Albania, 625 head of cattle were bled during two sampling seasons (i.e. from February to March 2003 and from November to December 2003). The cattle came from three collection sites in Northern (site A), Central (site B) and Southern (site C) Albania. Milk samples were collected monthly from four animals from October 2002 to May 2003 during the lactating period. The animals were also clinically examined for the presence of warbles by manual palpation from April to July 2003 and 2004 and third instar larvae were collected and morphologically identified. Serum and milk samples were processed by ELISA. One hundred and thirty-three (38.6%) out of 344 and 116 (41.3%) out of 281 animals were found to be seropositive for Hypoderma during the first and the second sampling season. In particular, the animals from site C presented the highest percentage of seropositive results (i.e. 72.8% and 97.8% in the first and in second year, respectively) followed by the animals from sites A (i.e. 35.8% and 23.8% in the first and in second year, respectively) and B (i.e. 17.8% and 3.4% in the first and in second year, respectively). The kinetics of anti-Hypoderma antibodies in milk samples showed the highest antibody titres from October to February 2003. All the seropositive animals in both the sampling periods showed the presence of one or more warbles under the skin during April and May 2003 and 2004 and the third-stage larvae collected were morphologically identified as Hypoderma bovis. The results of this survey indicate that hypodermosis is widespread in Albania and that early prophylactic treatments must be carried out accordingly. The hope is not only to reduce the parasitic intensity with obvious benefits for livestock production, but also to avoid the risk of spreading this parasitic disease to neighboring countries.