Epidemiological survey of swine cysticercosis in two rural communities of West-Cameroon

Abstract

Abstract:To determine the prevalence of porcine cysticercosis, a survey was carried out in 27 villages belonging to two rural communities of West-Cameroon (Bafou and Bamendou). Between January and August 2000, a total of 707 pigs were examined serologically and by tongue inspection. Serum samples were examined for circulating parasite antigen using a monoclonal antibody-based sandwich enzyme-linked-immunosorbent assay (Ag-ELISA) and for antibodies against cysticerci (Ab-ELISA). Seventy-eight samples (11.0%) were found positive in the Ag-ELISA and 154 (21.8%) in the Ab-ELISA, while by tongue inspection on the same animals cysticerci were detected in forty-three pigs (6.1%). Gibbs Sampling using results of these three tests indicated that the estimated prevalence of porcine cysticercosis was 10.9 %. Analysis of the Ag-ELISA results demonstrated that adult pigs showed a significantly higher seroprevalence (15%) than young ones (8.4%). There was no statistical difference in cysticercosis prevalence in pigs raised in households with or without a latrine. Animals that were reported to be usually confined were significantly less infected (9.9%) than free roaming pigs (16.2%). Infection rates were significantly higher in pigs that had access to human faeces (13.8%) than those which did not have access (9.1%). This study has identified some community behavioural and environmental practices that should be modified to prevent continuous transmission of porcine cysticercosis.

Porcine cysticercosis in village pigs of North-West Cameroon

“…These results confirm the observations of Nguekam et al (2003) and Pouedet et al (2002) that the monoclonal antibody based Ag-ELISA is much more sensitive than tongue inspection. Since this antigen detection ELISA is known to detect only living cysticerci both in cattle (Brandt et al, 1992) and in pigs (Nguekam et al, 2003), the number of seropositive pigs is a good indication of animals which present a risk to the consumer.…”

“…The T. solium taeniasis/cysticercosis complex is associated with poor sanitation and hygiene, poor methods of pig husbandry and poor meat inspection and control. The occurrence of the taeniasis /cysticercosis complex has been reported already in some parts of Cameroon (Marty et al, 1985(Marty et al, , 1986Zoli et al, 1987;Awa et al, 1999;Assana et al, 2001;Pouedet et al, 2002). In order to obtain baseline data on the prevalence of porcine cysticercosis in the North-West province of Cameroon and to determine factors associated with the transmission of this zoonosis, an epidemiological study was undertaken in the Batibo sub-division of this province.…”

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

“…This agrees with the reports of higher prevalence rates in adult over young pigs in Cameroon and Mexico [11,12]. This higher prevalence in adult may be due to the fact that older animals may have had longer exposure than the young ones.…”

A Bayesian approach for the evaluation of six diagnostic assays and the estimation ofCryptosporidiumprevalence in dairy calves

“…In this study for example, the apparent calf prevalence ranged from 13% to 46%, depending on the technique being used. Previously a Bayesian approach has proven its potential to circumvent this gold standard problem when 3 [11,26] or 4 tests [5] were used to diagnose infection. The four-test approach was also used in this study and yielded a Cryptosporidium calf prevalence estimate of 17% (95% PI: 0.1-0.28), which is comparable to observations by others in calves of the same age category [16,20,25,32].…”

“…Furthermore, this procedure can only be used in a controlled evaluation protocol and not for evaluation of diagnostic tests in clinical or epidemiological studies where the true disease status of the subject is unknown. Recently, Bayesian analysis has proven its value in circumventing this gold standard problem [1,5,11,26]. In this study, two different Bayesian approaches are presented for the estimation of Cryptosporidium prevalence in dairy calves in the province of East-Flanders, Belgium, and for the evaluation of six diagnostic tests.…”