New insights in cysticercosis transmission.

Taenia solium infection causes severe neurological disease in humans. Even though infection and exposure to swine cysticercosis is scattered throughout endemic villages, location of the tapeworm only explains some of the nearby infections and is not related to location of seropositive pigs. Other pl...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Carmen S Arriola, Armando E Gonzalez, Luis A Gomez-Puerta, Maria T Lopez-Urbina, Hector H Garcia, Robert H Gilman
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014-10-01
Series:PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0003247
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850212660852817920
author Carmen S Arriola
Armando E Gonzalez
Luis A Gomez-Puerta
Maria T Lopez-Urbina
Hector H Garcia
Robert H Gilman
author_facet Carmen S Arriola
Armando E Gonzalez
Luis A Gomez-Puerta
Maria T Lopez-Urbina
Hector H Garcia
Robert H Gilman
author_sort Carmen S Arriola
collection DOAJ
description Taenia solium infection causes severe neurological disease in humans. Even though infection and exposure to swine cysticercosis is scattered throughout endemic villages, location of the tapeworm only explains some of the nearby infections and is not related to location of seropositive pigs. Other players might be involved in cysticercosis transmission. In this study we hypothesize that pigs that carry nematodes specific to dung beetles are associated with cysticercosis infection and/or exposure. We carried out a cross-sectional study of six villages in an endemic region in northern Peru. We euthanized all pigs (326) in the villages and performed necropsies to diagnose cysticercosis. For each pig, we counted cysticerci; measured anti-cysticercus antibodies; identified intestinal nematodes; tabulated distance to nearest human tapeworm infection; and recorded age, sex, productive stage, and geographic reference. For the purpose of this paper, we defined cysticercosis infection as the presence of at least one cysticercus in pig muscles, and cysticercosis exposure as seropositivity to anti-cysticercus antibodies with the presence of 0-5 cysticerci. Compared to pigs without nematode infections, those pigs infected with the nematode Ascarops strongylina were significantly associated with the presence of cysticerci (OR: 4.30, 95%CI: 1.83-10.09). Similarly, pigs infected with the nematode Physocephalus sexalatus were more likely to have cysticercosis exposure (OR: 2.21, 95%CI: 1.50-3.28). In conclusion, our results suggest that there appears to be a strong positive association between the presence of nematodes and both cysticercosis infection and exposure in pigs. The role of dung beetles in cysticercosis dynamics should be further investigated.
format Article
id doaj-art-e461f58832314073976e989b5306e641
institution OA Journals
issn 1935-2727
1935-2735
language English
publishDate 2014-10-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
spelling doaj-art-e461f58832314073976e989b5306e6412025-08-20T02:09:17ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases1935-27271935-27352014-10-01810e324710.1371/journal.pntd.0003247New insights in cysticercosis transmission.Carmen S ArriolaArmando E GonzalezLuis A Gomez-PuertaMaria T Lopez-UrbinaHector H GarciaRobert H GilmanTaenia solium infection causes severe neurological disease in humans. Even though infection and exposure to swine cysticercosis is scattered throughout endemic villages, location of the tapeworm only explains some of the nearby infections and is not related to location of seropositive pigs. Other players might be involved in cysticercosis transmission. In this study we hypothesize that pigs that carry nematodes specific to dung beetles are associated with cysticercosis infection and/or exposure. We carried out a cross-sectional study of six villages in an endemic region in northern Peru. We euthanized all pigs (326) in the villages and performed necropsies to diagnose cysticercosis. For each pig, we counted cysticerci; measured anti-cysticercus antibodies; identified intestinal nematodes; tabulated distance to nearest human tapeworm infection; and recorded age, sex, productive stage, and geographic reference. For the purpose of this paper, we defined cysticercosis infection as the presence of at least one cysticercus in pig muscles, and cysticercosis exposure as seropositivity to anti-cysticercus antibodies with the presence of 0-5 cysticerci. Compared to pigs without nematode infections, those pigs infected with the nematode Ascarops strongylina were significantly associated with the presence of cysticerci (OR: 4.30, 95%CI: 1.83-10.09). Similarly, pigs infected with the nematode Physocephalus sexalatus were more likely to have cysticercosis exposure (OR: 2.21, 95%CI: 1.50-3.28). In conclusion, our results suggest that there appears to be a strong positive association between the presence of nematodes and both cysticercosis infection and exposure in pigs. The role of dung beetles in cysticercosis dynamics should be further investigated.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0003247
spellingShingle Carmen S Arriola
Armando E Gonzalez
Luis A Gomez-Puerta
Maria T Lopez-Urbina
Hector H Garcia
Robert H Gilman
New insights in cysticercosis transmission.
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
title New insights in cysticercosis transmission.
title_full New insights in cysticercosis transmission.
title_fullStr New insights in cysticercosis transmission.
title_full_unstemmed New insights in cysticercosis transmission.
title_short New insights in cysticercosis transmission.
title_sort new insights in cysticercosis transmission
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0003247
work_keys_str_mv AT carmensarriola newinsightsincysticercosistransmission
AT armandoegonzalez newinsightsincysticercosistransmission
AT luisagomezpuerta newinsightsincysticercosistransmission
AT mariatlopezurbina newinsightsincysticercosistransmission
AT hectorhgarcia newinsightsincysticercosistransmission
AT roberthgilman newinsightsincysticercosistransmission