Questionnaire results from a community-based project on porcine cysticercosis in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa

For many decades the pork tapeworm, Taenia solium, has been recognized as a problem in South Africa. Recent reviews of neurocysticercosis and the emergence of T. solium cysticercosis as a serious agricultural problem and public health risk in Eastern and Southern Africa, have brought the cysticercosis situation in South Africa into focus. An early report from slaughterhouses in South Africa indicated that 0.50-25.70% of pigs were infected. More recently hospital surveys utilizing serological and radiological diagnostic techniques have indicated that 28-50% of epileptics, predominantly African and many children, were positive for this parasite. This paper will focus on the preliminary results of a current questionnaire survey targeting emerging pig producers in the Eastern Cape Province who live in areas where neurocysticercosis is known to occur. The results are presented against the background of increasing reports of its occurrence throughout the subregion and current studies underway in the country. The human population considered to be at highest risk of being infected by this zoonotic helminth are people living in rural areas most of whom earn their livelihood wholly or partially through livestock enterprises. The questionnaire and interviews with these producers were designed to gain knowledge of community practices on pig husbandry, pork consumption, and sanitation as well as people's knowledge of T. solium infections in both pigs and humans. This is the first community-based study on porcine cysticercosis infections in South Africa. The results from this questionnaire will provide information for designing interventions acceptable to endemic communities while also contributing to sustainable and appropriate recommendations for cysticercosis prevention and control.