Re-visiting the detection of porcine cysticercosis based on full carcass dissections of naturally Taenia solium infected pigs
Taenia solium is a neglected zoonotic parasite
Abstract
Taenia solium is a neglected zoonotic parasite. The performances of existing tools for the diagnosis of porcine cysticercosis need further assessment, and their shortcomings call for alternatives.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of tongue palpation and circulating antigen detection for the detection of porcine cysticercosis in naturally infected pigs of slaughter age compared to full carcass dissections (considered the gold standard). Additionally, alternative postmortem dissection procedures were investigated.
A total of 68 rural pigs of slaughter age randomly selected in the Eastern Province of Zambia were dissected. Dissections were conducted on full carcasses (or half carcass in case cysticerci were already detected in the first half), including all the organs. Total cysticercus counts, location and stages were recorded and collected cysticerci were identified morphologically and molecularly. All sera were analysed with the B158/B60 antigen detecting ELISA (Ag-ELISA).
This is an output from the ‘Global Alliance For Livestock Veterinary Medicines (GALVmed): Phase 2 – Protecting Livestock and Saving Human Lives’ programme
Citation
Mwelwa Chembensofu, K. E. Mwape, I. Van Damme, E. Hobbs, I. K. Phiri, M. Masuku, G. Zulu, A. Colston, A. L. Willingham, B. Devleesschauwer, A. Van Hul, A. Chota, N. Speybroeck, D. Berkvens, P. Dorny and S. Gabriël. (2017); Parasites & Vectors; 10:572 DOI 10.1186/s13071-017-2520-y