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Page No. : 15-19

ABSTRACT

A cross-sectional study was conducted to find the prevalence of porcine cysticercosis in slaughtered pigs, sampled from 4 major slaughter slabs in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal for the period of November, 2004 to April, 2005. In the same period, 8 main hospitals of the valley were surveyed by questionnaires to find the occurrence of human neurocysticercosis. Of the 504 porcine carcasses inspected for cysticercosis, five were found positive, the prevalence being 0.99 percent (95 percent CI: 0.32-2.29). All the sampled carcasses of indoor managed pigs were negative for cysticercosis, while the carcasses of both mixed and outdoor-farmed pigs showed the positive results. There was a significant difference in the prevalence of cysticercosis between farming systems (p - 0.001). The slaughter pigs were from four major areas of Nepal namely Kathmandu Valley, eastern Nepal, Terai and adjoining districts of the valley. From the remaining two hospitals, 1.5 NCC cases were found per 1,000 admission episodes and out patients department (OPD) visits. The NCC rate in terms of epileptic admission episodes was 18.7 percent, while in terms of admission episodes and OPD visits of epilepsy, it was 43.2 percent. Survey data revealed that 32 percent (25/78) of the NCC cases were from the valley alone. The presence of cysticercosis in slaughtered pigs and well- documented data of NCC cases in the hospitals indicate that T. solium, is a real public health threat in Nepal.

Keywords: Cysticercosis, T. solium, zoonoses