Prevalence of Taenia Solium Cysticercosis in Pigs and Humans in Nepal

Abstract

Taenia solium, a zoonotic parasite is endemic in most developing countries where pork is consumed and recognized as the main cause of acquired epilepsy in the humans. With an aim to investigate the seroprevalence of cysticercosis in Nepalese people and swine reared at the study area, a seven month study was carried out at Central Department of Microbiology and National Zoonosis and Food hygiene research Center (NZFHRC). For the study, blood samples of 198 pigs and 142 suspected human for neurocysticercosis from Institute of Medicine (IOM) and Neuro hospital of Biratnagar were examined for the presence of Taenia solium circulating parasite antigen by using a monoclonal antibody based sandwich enzyme linked Immunosorbent assay (Ag-ELISA). Out of 142 human blood samples, 10.6% (n=15) were found to be positive for T. solium metacestode circulating antigens. The positivity rate was 80% (n=12) in males and 20% (n=3) in female's patients. The highest positivity of infection was found in the age group 30-40 i.e. 40%. There was no significant association between the incidence of the disease and different parameters like age and sex (P>0.05). Out of 198 slaughtered pig samples, 21.21% (n=42) were found to be positive for T. solium metacestode circulatory antigens. The high positivity of cysticercosis was found in pigs brought from different parts of Kathmandu (59.52%) followed by pigs imported from India (21.42%), Sunsari (9.52%) and Kavre (9.52%) respectively. There was no significant association between the incidence of the disease and different parameters like slaughtered place, sex and breed (P>0.05). The porcine cysticercosis and neurocysticercosis in humans is highly prevalent in the study area. This is due to the fact that pigs are brought from low sanitized areas where they are reared in free range with easy access to human feces and availability of infected pork meat in market and consumption of undercooked meat are other contributing factors. Further studies are needed to evaluate these possibilities and a better knowledge of parasite transmission dynamics which will allow proper implementation of prevention and control measures for a better assessment