Original Research

Occurrence of porcine cysticercosis in free-ranging pigs delivered to slaughter points in Arapai, Soroti district, Uganda

Gerald Zirintunda, Justine Ekou
Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research | Vol 82, No 1 | a888 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/ojvr.v82i1.888 | © 2015 Gerald Zirintunda, Justine Ekou | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 23 September 2014 | Published: 11 June 2015

About the author(s)

Gerald Zirintunda, Department of Animal Production and Management, Busitema University, Uganda; Department of Livestock Health and Entomology, Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Uganda
Justine Ekou, Department of Animal Production and Management, Busitema University, Uganda

Abstract

Poverty, hunger and the need for production of pigs with meagre or zero inputs have made most farmers release their pigs to range freely, thus creating a pig-human cycle that maintains Taenia solium, the pig tapeworm and cause of porcine cysticercosis, in the ecosystem. A preliminary study was designed to establish the prevalence of porcine cysticercosis by postmortem examination of the tongue and carcass of free-range pigs from February to April 2014 in Arapai subcounty, Soroti district, eastern Uganda. The tongue of each pig was extended and examined before deep incisions were made and the cut surfaces were examined. The rest of the carcasses were examined for cysts. Out of 178 pigs examined, 32 were qualitatively positive for porcine cysticercosis, representing a prevalence of 18.0%. This high prevalence represents a marked risk to the communities in the study area of neurocysticercosis, a debilitating parasitic zoonosis. Proper human waste disposal by use of pit latrines, confinement of free-range pigs and treatment with albendazole and oxfendazole are recommended.

Keywords

Porcine, Cysticercosis, Free-range, Arapai

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