(International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), 2019) Dione, Michel; Adeniyi Samuel, Adediran; Colston, Angie; Ouma, Emily; Lule, Peter; Grace, Delia
Pig health is a critical issue in modern Uganda. Not
only does the country have the largest pig population
in East Africa, it also has the most rapidly growing
pig population in sub-Saharan Africa and the highest
per capita pork consumption in Eastern Africa
(FAOSTAT, 2010). Porcine cysticercosis (PC) is a
disease of pigs caused by larval cysts of the human
T. solium tapeworm. Pigs are infected when they eat
tapeworm eggs shed in the faeces of a human
tapeworm carrier. Humans are infected when they
eat tissues from pigs that contain larvae (cysticerci).
These larvae establish as tapeworms in the human
gut and shed eggs in human faeces. However, if
humans ingest tapeworm eggs in contaminated
food or water, these can establish as cysts in the
brain, eye or other tissues and these can have
serious consequences such as epilepsy.