Title
Prevalence and comparison of serologic assays, necropsy, and tongue examination for the diagnosis of porcine cysticercosis in Peru
Date Issued
01 January 1990
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Centers for Disease Control
Centers for Disease Control
Centers for Disease Control
Centers for Disease Control
Centers for Disease Control
Abstract
Swine cysticercosis, a severe zoonotic disease which is part of the Taenia solium life cycle, causes major economic losses in pig husbandry. Throughout South America, farmers diagnose cysticercosis by examining the tongues of their pigs for cysticercus nodules. Famers do not bring pigs believed to be infected to the slaughterhouse for fear of confiscation. Therefore, reliable statistics on porcine cysticercosis can only be acquired at the household level. We examined the utility of the tongue test as a diagnostic tool for porcine cysticercosis. The results of the tongue test was compared with 2 serologic methods for the detection of cysticercosis, the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and the enzyme-linked immunoelectrotransfer blot assay (EITB), and with necropsy results. We examined 11 animals from an endemic area (Huancayo) and 42 animals from an area free of cysticercosis (Lima). The tongue test has a sensitivity of 70% and a specificity of 100%, the EITB a sensitivity and specificity of 100%, and the ELISA a sensitivity of 79% and a specificity of 75%. Thus, the tongue examination, being a test essentially without cost and having fair sensitivity and high specificity, can be useful in epidemiological surveys. Prevalence for porcine cysticercosis in Huancayo is 23.4% by tongue examination, 31.2% by necropsy, 37.7% by ELISA, and 51.9% by EITB.
Start page
194
End page
199
Volume
43
Issue
2
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Enfermedades infecciosas Parasitología
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-0025142432
PubMed ID
Source
American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
ISSN of the container
00029637
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus