Fig 1.
Study design and randomization protocol.
Table 1.
Experimental pig treatment groups in the infected and non-infected pools (*M/F = Male and Female).
Fig 2.
Team consisting of the researcher, technicians and assistants, dissecting and counting the number of viable, degenerated and calcified cysts in the IT and INT groups of pigs.
Photographed by author 2021.
Fig 3.
Indirect Antigen-Sandwich ELISA protocol steps for cardiac troponin I (ELISA Technical Guide (idexx.com)).
Fig 4.
A typical standard curve for the calculation of cardiac troponin I concentration in the serum samples.
Concentrations were calculated for each pig at every sampling from day 0 to 11 days (77days) post-treatment.
Fig 5.
Average titre concentration changes in serum cardiac troponin I (cTnI) across the four groups of treatment (Mean ±SEM).
These were samples collected from adult pigs (n = 35), that were both positive [IT = infected and treated and INT = infected and not treated] and negative [NINT = not infected and not treated and NIT = not infected and treated] for T. solium cysticercosis following treatment with OXF at 30mg/kg effective dose. The concentration of cTnI was measured from day 0 (before treatment) to eleven weeks (77days) post treatment.
Fig 6.
Boxplot showing the distribution of data for cardiac troponin I (cTnI) and Tukey’s HSD test results (mean ± SEM).
Significant differences were observed between the INT vs IT (p = 0.0151), NIT vs IT (p = 0.0003), NINT vs IT (p = 0.0001). Mean difference is significant at p = 0.05. Key: a = significant difference, b = no significant difference.
Table 2.
Distribution and Cysticerci stage of T. solium cysticerci detected in the different muscles/organs in the IT carcasses (n = 7).
Fig 7.
Calcified/degenerated T. solium cysts in the,
(A) heart, (B) brain, (C) tongue, and (D) masseter muscle of a pig from the IT group. Photographed by author 2021.
Fig 8.
Pearson correlation analysis results between the concentration of cTnI and number of viable cysts in the IT group (n = 7) of dissected pigs.
Table 3.
Distribution and Cysticerci stage of T. solium cysticerci detected in the different muscles/organs in the INT carcasses (n = 7).
Fig 9.
Viable T. solium cysts in the,
(A) heart, (B) brain, (C) tongue (D) masseter muscle of a pig in the INT group. Photographed by author 2021.
Fig 10.
Pearson correlation analysis results between the concentration of cTnI and number of viable cysts in the INT group (n = 7) of dissected pigs.