An abattoir survey of caprine liver diseases in the Sultanate of Oman

The examination of 675 caprine livers from a slaughterhouse in the Greater Muscat area in the Sultanate of Oman revealed that 63 (9.3%) exhibited gros s pathological changes leading to condemnation of this organ. Forty of thes e livers (71.4%) exhibited one major abnormality, whereas the remaining 28. 6% had two or more lesions. The most frequently occurring disorder was diff use hepatic lipidosis (4.0%), followed by bacterial associated abscesses (2 .4%), cysticercosis (1.9%), and eosinophilic granulomata (1%). Although the cause for the hepatic lipidosis was not deter-mined it appeared to be a re versible condition based on the absence of degenerative nuclei within the a ffected hepatocytes. Conditions observed in only a single liver were subcap sular (non-parasitic) cysts, focal necrosis, micronodular cirrhosis, extens ive bile duct proliferation and diffuse haemorrhage. (C) 1999 Harcourt Publ ishers Ltd.