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Issue 00631 |
August 28 - September 3, 2010 |
issn 0856 - 9135 |
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Local News |
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Pig tapeworm puts Mbulu on focus
By Staff Reporter Scientists in five countries of Eastern Africa are about to test the proposed vaccination for the pig-tapeworm, after which they may decide whether it is appropriate for prevention of cysticercosis infections. That is a pig produced deadly tapeworm which can be transmitted to humans and cause epilepsy. Mbulu District, in Manyara was the first stop where expert went recently in their quest to curb the previously ignored problem. “If we approve the vaccination we will also discuss the possibility of having the vaccine produced here locally in order to make it cheaper and easily available to our farmers,” stated Professor Faustin Lekule the head of department of Animal Science and Production at Sokoine University of Agriculture. “We expect to get a vaccine from Australia anytime soon after which we intend to test it and see whether it will be appropriate for use here and if it can be produced in our countries,” said Prof Lekule. The Morogoro based SUA is the local implementing institution of the T.solium cysticercosis project funded by the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa Eight scientists from Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo met in Arusha last week to address the issue of pig-tapeworm (cysticercosis) infections that have been plaguing the EA region for years but it is only now that local scientists are taking the initiative to curb the issue. “Main cause for the tapeworm are the free roaming pigs and the worms which can be transmitted to human and in serious cases can cause epilepsy, treatment is expensive and medication scarce,” said Mr Lekule. The Arusha meet was aimed at hatching ways to educate farmers, encourage use of latrines, address vaccination possibility and develop diagnostic tools. Program officer from ASARECA Mr Clet Wandui Masiga who was also in the region to review the project and plan future activities as well as accompany the eight experts on the field visit in Mbulu. Cysticercosis results from the ingestion of the eggs of the pork tapeworm, Taenia solium. The eggs are usually found in water or food contaminated with feces. Autoinfection as a result of the entry of eggs into stomach due to retro-peristalsis or as a result of accidental ingestion of eggs from the host's own feces due to contaminated hands is also possible. In Tanzania the problem is usually found in areas that people keep pigs and let the animals roam free such as Mbulu District in Manyara region, where the Swine-flu epidemic wrecked major havoc last year. Others include Iringa, Dodoma, Ruvuma and Mbeya regions. The scientists meeting in Arusha will also visited farms in Mbulu and educated farmers on the issue. “The best way to control of getting tapeworms is by avoiding under-cooked pork and exercising high level of personal hygiene and prevention of fecal contamination of pig foods in prevention of getting the parasites,” said professor Lekule. Though T. solium is found worldwide, however, it is more common in areas where people live in close contact with swine flocks since pigs are intermediate hosts of the parasite. Congo and Tanzania according to researchers lead in such cases in the east African region. The Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) is a non-political organization of the National Agricultural Research Institutes (NARIs) of ten countries: Burundi, D. R. Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. It aims at increasing the efficiency of agricultural research in the region to facilitate economic growth, food security and export competitiveness through productive and sustainable agriculture.
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