White spots on lungs and liver

[Flow 18]

We went out tonight and managed to get 6 rabbits.

 

4 had white spots on the liver, and 1 had white spots on its lungs.

 

I've had a read and cant find anything conclusive, any idea what it is?

[vindiesel 1]

Don't panic mate my old man calls this liver fluke don't ask why. Meat is ok to eat

[Mawders 595]

Could that be an early sign of mixy? I don't really know, never seen that before.

[paulus 26]

speckled liver is a sign of mitsimitosis

[nickarris83 17]

first stages of mixy i think

Nick

[StevoSmith 147]

Im sure if white spots on liver its first stage of mixi but you can still eat meat as we carnt get it

[Flow 18]

Ahhh bollocks, I chucked them in the bin.

 

What about white spots on the lungs?

 

Thanks for the help.

Edited June 20, 2012 by Flow

[Phantom 631]

A pic would have been more useful as white spots can be indicative of various things

 

If it was a liver fluke then you really don't wanna eat it, as a genuine fluke is a parasitic worm that can inhabbit all mamals, including humans and ultimately cause pain and even lead to Cancer.

I've come across many varying livers, including one that was almost green with yellow and a few pink spots it had a hard rubbery texture.

 

Tony

[Flow 18]

I should have taken a photo but didn't think to be honest, it was pretty late.

 

The lungs were light pink in colour covered in white patches that were not raised.

[Phantom 631]

Again, could be a number of things either interwound with the liver spots or totally seperate condition.

 

Flukes can also inhabbit the lungs (Lungworm) but like I say we can guess till it comes out of our ears, but unless there is some thing distinct that Identifies it, we would have to have a biopsy and histology done to confirm it under a microscope.

 

Tony

[matt_hooks 188]

Tony, why not eat a rabbit with liver fluke?

 

Half the deer I shoot every year have some fluke, and there's absolutely no reason not to eat them. The fluke lives only in the liver (so obviously you don't eat that bit) and the rest of the animal is perfectly safe to enter the food chain. Obviously cooking the meat properly adds an additional layer of safety.

 

There are several other infections that can cause spotting on the liver, and if there is spotting on the lungs then it's definitely not fluke causing it. That's not to say the spots on the liver aren't fluke related.

 

Tony, lungworm is a totally different organism to liver fluke. The fluke is a flat worm whereas lungworm is a round worm.

 

There are several other infections that can cause spotting of the liver. Coccidiosis is one. Again, this is purely in the liver so the meat is perfectly safe to eat.

 

Myxi won't directly cause spotting, but it will knock the immune system back, which could allow other infections to take hold.

 

Again, myxi is not zoonotic (transferrable from one species to another) so there is no risk eating a myxi bunny, not that I'd fancy it.

Edited June 20, 2012 by matt_hooks

[Flow 18]

Thanks Matt.

[Phantom 631]

Hiya Matt,

I would want to know what kind of worm it was first. The freezing or cooking may or may not destroy the parasite though.

Bit like you won't eat mixy meat, I won't eat a worm (assuming thats what it was) infested animal.

In commercial abbatoirs, the first thing the inspector does is check the lobes of the liver for signs of illness or diseases, if he/she finds anything wrong with it, the animal is rejected as unfit for human consumption.

 

Tony

[matt_hooks 188]

The liver fluke life cycle is very interesting. You can't catch fluke by eating the "adult" animal. There are several stages of life cycle that have to be gone through before you can become infected.

 

Infection is via ingestion of "metacarcaria" which attach themselves to vegetation in damp areas. This is why most liver fluke is found in grazing herbivores (cows, sheep, deer, rabbits etc.). Most people who acquire a liver fluke infection do so by eating unwashed watercress.

 

Once the metacarceria reach the gut, they excyst and migrate through the duodenal wall, into the abdominal cavity, where they migrate to the liver. They penetrate the outside of the liver and migrate to the biliary ducts, where they develop into adults.

 

The adults then discharge eggs, which are carried away in the biliary ducts and end up in the stool (s##t). This is then deposited. The egg matures and infects certain species of water snail.

 

Without the water snail and all that stuff, you can't become infested.

 

Tony, I'd disagree with a discoloured/disease evident liver being an automatic rejection point. There are many diseases which affect the liver which don't cause rejection of the carcass. Liver fluke is one of them. As I've shown above, there is no risk of infection from an animal with liver fluke. You wouldn't eat the liver, for sure (although it would actually be safe to do so) but the rest of the animal is unaffected.

 

I've done the meat hygiene courses, and all of them say that liver fluke is not a reason to reject a carcass, either in large or small animals.

 

It's easy to identify fluke. If the liver is spotted, cut it open. If you see flat, wormlike creatures in the bigger ducts then it's liver fluke, and perfectly safe.

 

edited because I can't spell hygiene!

Edited June 20, 2012 by matt_hooks

[Phantom 631]

Okay, so if the "White Spots" were Liver Fluke, the meat is safe to eat, I still wouldn't want to eat it, because it would take a microscope to ID the fluke, but what if it wasn't the Liver Fluke and as I said earlier there are many causes of spotting on a liver of an animal.

 

Tony