Sponsor
We thank the villagers and community leaders from Cachaco and Minas de Jambur for their participation, as well as the staff of the Cysticercosis Elimination Program in Tumbes, Peru.
Published In
Plos Neglected Tropical Diseases
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2016
Subjects
Cysticercosis, Swine diseases
Abstract
Background Taenia solium, a parasitic cestode that affects humans and pigs, is the leading cause of preventable epilepsy in the developing world. T. solium eggs are released into the environment through the stool of humans infected with an adult intestinal tapeworm (a condition called taeniasis), and cause cysticercosis when ingested by pigs or other humans. A control strategy to intervene within high-risk foci in endemic communities has been proposed as an alternative to mass antihelminthic treatment. In this ring strategy, antihelminthic treatment is targeted to humans and pigs residing within a 100 meter radius of a pig heavily-infected with cysticercosis. Our aim was to describe the roaming ranges of pigs in this region, and to evaluate whether the 100 meter radius rings encompass areas where risk factors for T. solium transmission, such as open human defecation and dense pig activity, are concentrated. Methodology/Principal Findings In this study, we used Global Positioning System (GPS) devices to track pig roaming ranges in two rural villages of northern Peru. We selected 41 pigs from two villages to participate in a 48-hour tracking period. Additionally, we surveyed all households to record the locations of open human defecation areas. We found that pigs spent a median of 82.8% (IQR: 73.5, 94.4) of their time roaming within 100 meters of their homes. The size of home ranges varied significantly by pig age, and 93% of the total time spent interacting with open human defecation areas occurred within 100 meters of pig residences. Conclusions/Significance These results indicate that 100 meter radius rings around heavily-infected pigs adequately capture the average pig’s roaming area (i.e., home range) and represent an area where the great majority of exposure to human feces occurs.
Locate the Document
DOI
10.1371/journal.pntd.0004591
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/29244
Publisher
Public Library of Science
Citation Details
Pray, I. W., Swanson, D. J., Ayvar, V., Muro, C., Moyano, L. M., Gonzalez, A. E., ... & Cysticercosis Working Group in Peru. (2016). GPS tracking of free-ranging pigs to evaluate ring strategies for the control of cysticercosis/taeniasis in Peru. PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 10(4), e0004591.
Description
Copyright: © 2016 Pray 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.