Human Taeniasis and Cysticercosis and Related Factors in Phu Tho Province, Northern Vietnam

Abstract

Several factors presumed to facilitate the transmission of Taenia spp. were reported in Vietnam. We conducted a cross-sectional study taking questionnaires from 1,185 participants, and collecting 1,151 sera and 1,036 stool samples in northern Vietnam. Sera were examined for circulating antigens of Taenia solium cysticerci using ELISA, stools for Taenia eggs by Kato-Katz smear, and copro-antigens by ELISA. Ag-ELISA revealed 4.6% antigen positivity, indicating infection with viable cysticerci. Taenia eggs were detected in 1.5% of participants. Copro-antigens were found in 2.8% of participants. Eating raw meat and/or vegetables was significantly associated with the presence of copro-antigen (OR=8.6, 95% CI: 1.16-63.9, P=0.01). Considering the high taeniasis prevalence and the associated threat, public health attention should be given to treat the tapeworm carriers in the projected areas.

The burden of T. solium cysticercosis and selected neuropsychiatric disorders in Mocuba district, Zambézia province, Mozambique

“…Alto Benfica, 3.6%), may be explained by sociodemographic factors, which should be analysed in future studies. Previous studies from Mozambique found in general higher prevalence of either antigens (15%) or antibodies (10%) to T. solium larva than the ones reported in this study [14,15], and were consistent with studies done in other settings such as Cameroon [27], Nigeria [28], Vietnam [29,30], Zambia [31] and Democratic Republic of Congo [5], which reported similar seroprevalence rates. In our study, only 12.5% of the screened sera tested simultaneously positive to both serological assays.…”

“…To the contrary, in Tanzania [43], females were more likely to be seropositive, while in Burkina Faso and Vietnam this was true for males [29,58]. On the other hand, neither gender nor age presented a statistically significant association with seropositivity to cysticercosis in other studies [30,44,46,60].…”

“…Furthermore, although there is a fraction of Muslim people amongst our study participants, we did not expect our findings to be affected by the religion, since cysticercosis is acquired mainly through water or food contaminated with T. solium eggs, and consequently anyone can acquire the infection regardless of the consumption of pork meat or professed religion. In some studies, food, water and hygiene related factors were significantly associated with cysticercosis seropositivity, including consumption of undercooked pork [44], and using the same water source [43]; although in other studies, factors such as consumption of raw meat and/or vegetables [30] and hygiene (presence of latrine) [57] were not associated with cysticercosis seropositivity.…”