A Bayesian approach for estimating values for prevalence and diagnostic test characteristics of porcine cysticercosis

Complexities in using sentinel pigs to study Taenia solium transmission dynamics under field conditions

“…This result is considerably higher than the incidence rate of 0.69 per pig-year found by Ngowi et al (2008) in rural Tanzania and the incidence rates of 0.26 and 1.38 per pig-year found by Pondja et al (2012) in a high-endemic area of Mozambique. This discrepancy might be explained by a truly higher incidence rate in our study area, as it is generally assumed that T. asiatica is not present in Africa, and that T. hydatigena is much less prevalent in Africa than in Asia (Dorny et al, 2004). We also note a possibly important difference in study design between our and the cited studies.…”

“…This highlights the importance of T. hydatigena as a cross-reacting species in the Ag-ELISA under study (as well as in other currently available antigen-ELISA tests; Krecek et al, 2008). In Asia and Latin America, T. hydatigena appears to be a common parasite of pigs, whereas in Africa it is frequently found in small ruminants but only occasionally in pigs (Dorny et al, 2004;Rodriguez-Hidalgo et al, 2006). Special care should therefore be taken while interpreting Ag-ELISA results obtained from Asian or Latin American pig samples.…”

“…Alternatively, however, these isolated positive responses might be merely false positive responses. Indeed, although the Ag-ELISA shows high genus specificity, the test is not able to differentiate infections with T. solium from those with T. hydatigena and T. asiatica (Dorny et al, 2004).…”

“…The sensitivity and specificity of this Ag-ELISA are reported to be high in pigs, respectively 86.7% and 94.7% (Dorny et al, 2004). However, since data on the prevalence of T. hydatigena and T. asiatica in Nepalese pigs are not available, the specificity of the test with regards to T. solium antigen detection could be less due to cross-reaction with these parasites.…”

“…The serum was tested for the presence of circulating Taenia antigens using the B158/B60 IgG monoclonal antibody-based sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (Ag-ELISA; Dorny et al, 2004). In pigs, this test can be used to detect viable Taenia cysticerci, but is not able to differentiate between T. solium, Taenia hydatigena and Taenia asiatica, the three Taenia species known to infect pigs.…”