Re-evaluation of porcine cysticercosis in Nsukka area of Enugu State, Nigeria

Abstract

Taenia solium (T. solium) taeniasis/cysticercosis is an important zoonosis of considerable public health concern that mainly affects poor communities, especially in countries of Africa, Asia and South America[1]. Man, the only known natural host of adult T. solium in which it causes human taeniasis, acquires the infection by the ingestion of uncooked or undercooked pork containing viable cysticercus of T. solium. Pigs being the main intermediate host in which the cysticerci of T. solium develop become infected by eating viable T. solium eggs or whole gravid proglottids voided in human faeces into the environment by infected individuals[2]. Absence or improper meat inspection as well as clandestine slaughter and sale of pig carcases contribute significantly to the maintenance and transmission of the infection in man[1]. Porcine cysticercosis is usually prevalent in under-developed or developing countries with limited economic resources, extensive (free range) or poor pig husbandry systems[3-5]. Although the environmental and pig management conditions in Nigeria (especially where open-air defecation is rampant) appear favourable for the transmission of taeniasis/cysticercosis complex, records of the prevalence appear few and far-between. For instance, in this study area, the only published study on porcine cysticercosis and human taeniasis was carried out two decades ago[4]. Consequently, it has become necessary to re-evaluate the status of the infection in slaughter pigs due to the great economic and public health implication of the parasite and the increasing pig production and pork consumption in the area. ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT