Figures
Tethered village pig in a Taenia solium endemic area of the Bas-Congo province (Democratic Republic of Congo).
Tethering pigs or allowing them to roam freely in the village is one of the main factors favoring the life cycle of Taenia solium in developing countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. This tapeworm causes porcine and human (neuro)cysticercosis. This photograph was taken in a highly endemic village of the Bas-Congo province, where approximately 40% of the pigs are infected with the parasite (see Praet et al., 10.1371/journal.pntd.0000817). Infected inhabitants of this village incur the risk of serious neurological disorders, seizures and epilepsy being the most frequent ones.
Image Credit: Kirezi Kanobana and Nicolas Praet, Institute of Tropical Medicine of Antwerp.
Citation: (2010) PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases Issue Image | Vol. 4(9) September 2010. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 4(9): ev04.i09. https://doi.org/10.1371/image.pntd.v04.i09
Published: September 28, 2010
Copyright: © 2010 Praet et al.. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Tethering pigs or allowing them to roam freely in the village is one of the main factors favoring the life cycle of Taenia solium in developing countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. This tapeworm causes porcine and human (neuro)cysticercosis. This photograph was taken in a highly endemic village of the Bas-Congo province, where approximately 40% of the pigs are infected with the parasite (see Praet et al., 10.1371/journal.pntd.0000817). Infected inhabitants of this village incur the risk of serious neurological disorders, seizures and epilepsy being the most frequent ones.
Image Credit: Kirezi Kanobana and Nicolas Praet, Institute of Tropical Medicine of Antwerp.