Study of Hydatid Cyst Fertility: Effectiveness of Pineapple (Bromelain) and Garlic Extracts in Hydatid Cycst From Kirkuk Slaughterhouse

Cystic echinococcosis, due to the larval stage of Echinococcus granulosus, remains a major parasitic zoonosis worldwide and continues to impose significant public health and economic burdens in endemic areas. In this study, the in vitro efficacy of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of garlic (Allium sativum) and pineapple (Ananas comosus) against viable protoscoleces isolated from fertile hydatid cysts collected from naturally infected slaughtered livestock in Kirkuk Province, Iraq, was investigated. Protoscoleces of hydatid cysts that were viable (>95%) were exposed to four concentrations of the extract (10%, 25%, 50% and 75%) for 15, 30 and 60 min. The mortality rates were determined by the eosin exclusion test and median lethal concentrations (LC50) were calculated for comparison of the potency of the extracts. All the treatments showed marked protoscolicidal activity, which was time- and concentration-dependent. Among the preparations tested, the ethanolic garlic extract was the most effective, with the lowest LC 50 value (5.9 mg/mL) and 92.33 ± 2.52% mortality at 75% concentration after 60 min. The activity of aqueous garlic extract was found to be remarkable with 86.33 ± 2.1% mortality and LC50 of 8.8 mg/mL. Pineapple extracts had relatively lower but significant activity; ethanolic pineapple extract caused 79.33 ± 1.53% mortality with an LC50 of 14.4 mg/mL, while aqueous pineapple extract caused the least effect with 73.00 ± 2.65% mortality with an LC50 of 45.1 mg/mL. Overall ethanolic extracts were consistently better than aqueous extracts, suggesting better extraction of biologically active antiparasitic constituents. The results showed that both A. sativum and A. comosus have significant protoscolicidal effects, the garlic extracts being much more powerful than the pineapple extracts. The effectiveness of ethanolic garlic extract was higher which indicates that sulfur-containing  phytochemicals could be promising for natural scolicidal formulations. These findings offer experimental support to investigate plant-derived bioactive compounds as alternative or supplementary agents for hydatid disease control and require additional phytochemical characterization, toxicity evaluation and in vivo validation.