Heavy sarcocystosis in the ocular musculature of cattle and buffaloes.

A high prevalence of 71.5 per cent and 69.7 per cent of sarcocystosis was observed in the ocular musculature of cattle and buffaloes respectively, in Bihar, India. The concentration of cysts in the eye muscle was also usually heavy. Ocular musculature appears to be a preferred site for the development of Sarcocystis in these intermediate hosts, second only to the heart muscle. The species of Sarcocystis involved in the present study were morphologically indistinguishable from S. cruzi in cattle and S. levinei in buffaloes. This appears to be the first report on the occurrence of S. cruzi and S. levinei in ocular musculature.