Assessment of sanitary conditions of unregistered pig slaughter slabs and post mortem examination of pigs for Taenia solium metacestodes in Kaduna metropolis, Nigeria

Abstract

BackgroundA number of studies document the prevalence of Taenia solium infections in Nigeria, yet these studies do not cover porcine cysticercosis in private home slaughter slabs where there is no routine meat inspection and backyard pig keeping, slaughtering and sale are common practice.MethodsAn environmental and sanitary assessment was conducted within two unregistered home pig slaughter slabs in selected parts of the Kaduna metropolis in Nigeria. Slaughter premises were inspected for availability of basic facilities and questionnaires were used to elicit necessary informative data. Butchers were examined for taeniasis by stool microscopy and copro-antigen enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (copro-Ag ELISA) to ascertain T. solium – taeniasis. Pigs slaughtered at the premises were examined for cysticerci.ResultsHome slaughter conditions were substandard, unhygienic and lacked the basic facilities of a proper slaughterhouse. Prevalence of porcine cysticercosis was 9.3%. The butchers participating in the study had very poor knowledge of T. solium infections and 30% tested positive for taeniasis by copro-Ag ELISA at the time of the study.ConclusionHome slaughter of pigs in the areas studied should be considered and integrated as a component of prevention and control programmes – particularly through educational interventions – in order to equip individuals involved with a good understanding of the risks associated with animal husbandry and human practices.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/2049-9957-3-45) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Porcine Cysticercosis—An Emerging Food Borne Parasitic Zoonosis in Urban Settings in Tanzania: Need for Immediate Control Measures

“…Limited knowledge on T. solium cysticercosis among butchers and pork vendors as observed in this study is essentially among the reasons which make them employ practices which promote the transmission of the parasite, including selling or buying uninspected pork. Similar observations were reported from pig butchers in Nigeria [24]. To get rid of this situation, education has been reported to be an effective means of controlling the parasite and other food borne zoonoses [25].…”

“…They were substandard, unhygienic and lacked the basic facilities of a slaughter facility, risking the health of consumers of meat produced from the facilities. Similarly, poor hygiene and substandard conditions of slaughter facilities have been reported in other developing countries [23,24]. The number and location of slaughter slabs observed in this study affected monitoring and control of the facilities as the slabs were scattered all over the city, making routine meat inspection difficult.…”

Overview of Taenia solium cysticercosis in West Africa

“…In some instances, there are no abattoirs or slaughters slabs in the locality for meat inspection to be carried out, and if present are often unregistered. This was a common scenario observed in studies conducted in Nigeria, Senegal and Gambia (Gweba et al, 2010;Secka et al, 2010a, Edia-Asuke et al, 2014.…”

“…The simplest and most common diagnostic methods for porcine cysticercosis are visual inspection of the surface of the tongue, which has a sensitivity ranging from 16-70% (Phiri et al, 2006), and carcass inspection (Lightowlers et al, 2015). Most epidemiological studies on porcince cysticercosis in West Africa have used tongue or carcass inspection (Onah and Cheinjina 1995;Gweba et al, 2010;Goussanou et al, 2014;Edia-Asuke et al, 2014;Attawalna et al, 2015;Idiaka et al, 2017).…”

“…In endemic areas, poverty, ignorance and superstitious beliefs about T. solium are associated with increased risk of disease transmission and stakeholders in endemic areas may know about tapeworm infections in humans but could not relate them to porcine cysticercosis and NCC (Thys et al, 2015). In a study in Nigeria, 80 % of the butchers had poor knowledge of T. solium cysticercosis and its public health significance (Edia-Asuke et al, 2014), a likely explaination for the persistently high-risk practices as described above.…”