Evaluation of an Antibody Detecting Point of Care Test for Diagnosis of Taenia solium Cysticercosis in a Zambian Rural Community: A Prospective Diagnostic Accuracy Study.
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SUBMITTER: Mubanga C
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8618153 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:BACKGROUND:Taenia solium taeniasis/cysticercosis is a disease of substantial economic and public health importance particularly in low-income countries. The disease was reported to be endemic in Mbeya Rural and Mbozi districts, in the southern highlands of Tanzania, the major pig production area in the country. In 2008, using B158/B60 antigen detection enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (Ag-ELISA), porcine cysticercosis prevalence of up to 32% was reported in the districts. A number of interventions have been implemented in selected villages including an integrated approach consisting of improving pig confinement and selective treatment of pigs with oxfendazole. Mass drug administration with praziquantel targeting schistosomiasis, with an expected effect on T. solium, was also provided to school-age children in the area. This study aimed at providing an update on prevalence and intensities of porcine cysticercosis; and assessing farmers' knowledge, attitudes and practices which could be associated to disease transmission in the area. The study involved a questionnaire survey conducted using face-to-face household interviews with 890 consenting farmers; and carcass dissections performed on 282 pigs randomly selected from the surveyed households. RESULTS:Twenty-six pigs (9.2%) were infected with T. solium; of which two-thirds (65.4%) had light to moderate infection intensities (1-1000 cysticerci), and one-third (34.6%) had heavy intensities (>?1000 cysticerci). Questionnaire results showed that only 5.7% of the respondents perceived T. solium cysticercosis to be an important disease in pigs. About 18.5% of the respondents were aware of T. solium taeniasis, but 32% of them were unaware of how the infection is acquired. Half of the respondents had seen cysticerci in pork, of whom 61% were not aware that consumption of infected pork could cause taeniasis. Latrines were observed to often (90%) lack doors with 45% considered accessible to pigs. CONCLUSIONS:This study provided an evidence that the disease was still endemic in the area. Poor knowledge of farmers, attitudes, and risky practices responsible for disease perpetuation were also revealed. A One Health approach targeting the whole area incorporating improvement of farmer knowledge regarding disease transmission needs to be trialed as a feasible approach to control.
| S-EPMC7470673 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Cysticercosis is caused by the larvae of the cestode Taenia solium. Few data are available on the prevalence of this disease in pigs and humans in West African countries. The aim of this study was to provide an overview of existing data concerning the spread of this parasitosis in the countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on the basis of the literature published over the last five decades. Systematic searches for publications were carried out on PubMed and Google Scholar, as well as in certain regional and local journals. From a total of 501 articles initially retrieved concerning T. solium cysticercosis in West African countries, only 120 articles were relevant for this review and therefore finally retained. For pigs, only eight out of sixteen countries of the region have reported porcine cysticercosis. Post-mortem examination of carcasses at slaughterhouses, meat inspection at butcheries or tongue inspection in herds have been the main source of data, but may not entirely reflect actual parasite distribution. For humans, only five out of sixteen countries reported epidemiological data on neurocysticercosis. Most data referred to neurocysticercosis prevalence among epileptic patients or isolated clinical cases. Furthermore, existing data are often old. Overall, T. solium cysticercosis remains largely neglected in West Africa, and its prevalence appears not to be affected by any religion in particular. There is an urgent need to promote and implement health partnerships and programs on this disease in order to collect more data and identify sensitive populations in the countries of the ECOWAS area.
| S-EPMC6144651 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundTaenia solium cysticercosis is an important zoonosis in many developing countries. Human neurocysticercosis is recognised as an important cause of epilepsy in regions where the parasite occurs. However, it is largely underreported and there is a lack of data about the disease burden. Because a body of information on human and porcine cysticercosis in Cameroon is becoming available, the present study was undertaken to calculate the impact of this neglected zoonosis.MethodsBoth the cost and Disability Adjusted Life Year (DALY) estimations were applied. All necessary parameters were collected and imported in R software. Different distributions were used according to the type of information available for each of the parameters.FindingsBased on a prevalence of epilepsy of 3.6%, the number of people with neurocysticercosis-associated epilepsy was estimated at 50,326 (95% CR 37,299-65,924), representing 1.0% of the local population, whereas the number of pigs diagnosed with cysticercosis was estimated at 15,961 (95% CR 12,320-20,044), which corresponds to 5.6% of the local pig population. The total annual costs due to T. solium cysticercosis in West Cameroon were estimated at 10,255,202 Euro (95% CR 6,889,048-14,754,044), of which 4.7% were due to losses in pig husbandry and 95.3% to direct and indirect losses caused by human cysticercosis. The monetary burden per case of cysticercosis amounts to 194 Euro (95% CR 147-253). The average number of DALYs lost was 9.0 per thousand persons per year (95% CR 2.8-20.4).InterpretationThis study provides an estimation of the costs due to T. solium cysticercosis using country-specific parameters and including the human as well as the animal burden of the zoonotic disease. A comparison with a study in South Africa indicates that the cost of inactivity, influenced by salaries, plays a predominant role in the monetary burden of T. solium cysticercosis. Therefore, knowing the salary levels and the prevalence of the disease might allow a rapid indication of the total cost of T. solium cysticercosis in a country. Ascertaining this finding with additional studies in cysticercosis-endemic countries could eventually allow the estimation of the global disease burden of cysticercosis. The estimated number of DALYs lost due to the disease was higher than estimates already available for some other neglected tropical diseases. The total estimated cost and number of DALYs lost probably underestimate the real values because the estimations have been based on epilepsy as the only symptom of cysticercosis.
| S-EPMC2656639 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Taenia solium is a zoonotic cestode that causes taeniasis and cysticercosis in humans. The parasite is traditionally found in developing countries where undercooked pork is consumed under poor sanitary conditions and/or as part of traditional food cultures. However, the recent increase in international tourism and immigration is spreading the disease into non-endemic developed countries such as the United States. Although there has been concern that the number of cysticercosis cases is increasing in Japan, the current situation is not clear. This is largely because taeniasis and cysticercosis are not notifiable conditions in Japan and because there have been no comprehensive reviews of T. solium infections in Japan conducted in the last 15 years. Herein, we provide an overview of the status of T. solium infection in Japan over the past 35 years and point out the potential risks to Japanese society.
| S-EPMC3398336 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Porcine cysticercosis is a neglected and underestimated disease caused by metacestode stage of the tapeworm, Taenia solium (T. solium). Pigs are the intermediate hosts of T. solium while human are the only known definitive host. The disease has an economic consequence because the affected farmers lose 50?100 percent of the value of pigs if they are infected. Lack of affordable, easy to use, sensitive, and specific molecular diagnostic tools for detection of infections at the farm level hinders the control of porcine cysticercosis in endemic areas. A number of DNA based diagnostic assays for the detection of T. solium infections in pigs have been developed and evaluated but none is applicable at low-resource areas where this disease is an endemic. This review focuses mainly on DNA based diagnostic methods, their sensitivity, specificity, and utilization at low-resource areas. We summarized data from 65 studies on the current DNA-detection based diagnostic techniques for T. solium cysticercosis in porcine, published in English between the years 2000–2018, identified through PubMed search engine. Of the different polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays developed for identification of T. solium, the most sensitive (97?100%) and specific (100%) one is nested PCR. One study utilized loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) as a diagnostic tool for the detection of T. solium infections though its field use was never determined. Recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) has been evaluated as a diagnostic tool for a variety of diseases, but has never been exploited for the diagnosis of cysticercosis/taeniasis. In conclusion, several molecular methods have been developed and evaluated in lab settings. However, there is need to validate these methods as a diagnostic tool to diagnose porcine cysticercosis in low-resource areas.
| S-EPMC7199576 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundDiagnostic test evaluation includes measures of performance and assessment of operational characteristics. The latter focuses on end-user understanding of instructions to perform the test, ease of use, test turnaround time and ease of result interpretation. This study aimed to assess user comprehension of training for and ease of use of a Taenia solium point of care test (TS POC) evaluated in a community and hospital setting in Zambia and Tanzania, respectively.MethodsThe TS POC is a three-step in-house-produced rapid diagnostic test (RDT) for the simultaneous detection of taeniosis (TST) and cysticercosis (TSCC) antibodies. Data collected by administering questionnaires to 29 end-users and from the main evaluation database was analyzed quantitatively.ResultsEnd-users (28/29, 97%) perceived that the training they received for performing the test was sufficient. They performed 4080 tests, of which 80 were invalid. The community-based study and TST tests had higher invalid rates. The overall result interpretation was within the acceptable range of RDTs with an overall disagreement between readers of 3.3%. The Kappa coefficient of agreement was 85 and 82% for TSCC and TST, respectively. There was more disagreement among readers in the community-based study.ConclusionEnd-users rated the TS POC kit moderate in terms of ease of use citing long test turnaround time and difficulties in using the blood transfer device. Overall, the operational performance of the TS POC kit and end-users was within the established acceptable performance range.
| S-EPMC8235832 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundTaenia solium metacestodes/cysts obtained from pig carcasses constitute a primary source for diagnostic tools used for the detection of human cysticercosis. Data on T. solium cyst preparation in Africa is still scarce but required to establish independent reference laboratories.ObjectivesThe aim of the present study is a) to present the likely yield of T. solium cyst material by the use of two different preparation methods in the field and b) to investigate its suitability for immunodiagnosis of human cysticercosis.MethodsIn Zambia, Uganda and Tanzania 670 pigs were screened for T. solium infection. Cysts were prepared by 'shaking method' and 'washing method'. Generated crude antigens were applied in a standard western blot assay.Results46 out of 670 pigs (6.9%) were found positive for T. solium (Zambia: 12/367, 3.3%; Uganda: 11/217, 5.1%; Tanzania 23/86, 26.7%). Mean values of 77.7 ml whole cysts, 61.8 ml scolices/membranes and 10.9 ml cyst fluid were obtained per pig. Suitability of collected material for the use as crude antigen and molecular diagnostic techniques was demonstrated.ConclusionThis study clearly shows that T. solium cyst preparation in African settings by simple field methods constitutes an effective way to obtain high quality material as source for diagnostic tools and research purposes.
| S-EPMC4370158 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Optimal control strategies for Taenia solium taeniasis and cysticercosis have not been determined. We conducted a 2-year cluster randomized trial in Peru by assigning 23 villages to 1 of 3 geographically targeted intervention approaches. For ring screening (RS), participants living near pigs with cysticercosis were screened for taeniasis; identified cases were treated with niclosamide. In ring treatment (RT), participants living near pigs with cysticercosis received presumptive treatment with niclosamide. In mass treatment (MT), participants received niclosamide treatment every 6 months regardless of location. In each approach, half the villages received targeted or mass oxfendazole for pigs (6 total study arms). We noted significant reductions in seroincidence among pigs in all approaches (67.1% decrease in RS, 69.3% in RT, 64.7% in MT; p<0.001), despite a smaller proportion of population treated by targeted approaches (RS 1.4%, RT 19.3%, MT 88.5%). Our findings suggest multiple approaches can achieve rapid control of T. solium transmission.
| S-EPMC8386790 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundTaenia solium cysticercosis/taeniasis (TSCT) is reported to be endemic in pig producing areas around the world, causing significant disease burden and economic losses.MethodsThis cross-sectional study aimed at assessing Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) regarding TSCT in four districts, namely Mbulu, Mpwapwa, Mbinga, and Rungwe in Tanzania. Data on KAP were collected through questionnaire-based interviews and household infrastructure observations.ResultsKnowledge about porcine cysticercosis was good, particularly among pig keepers across the districts. Many participants had heard about the pork tapeworm (T. solium taeniasis), and the knowledge about signs/symptoms and treatment was fair, but the means of transmission and prevention measures were often unknown. Whilst most participants were familiar with epilepsy, no one knew anything about human cysticercosis and the link between cysticercosis and epileptic seizures. A similar trend is reflected through the attitudes toward the low risk perception of cysticercosis infection. Not surprisingly, the risk perception of the infection with the pork tapeworm was low too. Many participants reported not washing their hands before eating or after using the toilet which highlights potential risks for the development of human cysticercosis. Albeit nearly every participant reported using the toilet always, household observations revealed that toilets were either lacking or had no complete walls. Generally, household observations revealed a discrepancy between questionnaire answers on the one hand and the availability of toilet and handwashing facilities and the confinement of pigs on the other hand.ConclusionThis study demonstrates knowledge gaps and adverse practices which may hinder and/or slow down the control/elimination of T. solium in endemic countries. The study results are also useful for appropriate designing of TSCT health interventions that need to be planned carefully, taking into account the local context and designing TSCT in partnership with the local communities from the beginning to the end applying a One Health approach to allow the possible sustained and best impacts.
| S-EPMC9190087 | biostudies-literature
Project description:A Taenia solium metacestode cDNA expression library in the lambda ZAPII vector was screened with pooled sera from patients with neurocysticercosis. Sixty primary clones were identified and shown to belong to two classes. The clones NC-3 and NC-9 did not reveal any significant homologies to sequences deposited in the databases and were further characterized. Both recombinant antigens were expressed as glutathione S-transferase fusion proteins and applied for serological diagnosis of human cysticercosis. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was established and evaluated with 27 serum samples of La Réunion and Madagascar patients with cysticercosis. Diagnosis in these patients was established with radiological and serological procedures. For antigen NC-3 a sensitivity of 96.3% and a specificity of 91.5% for the serodiagnosis were achieved. In contrast, the sensitivity of antigen NC-9 was only 33.3%.
| S-EPMC95711 | biostudies-literature