Human and porcine Taenia solium infection in a village in the highlands ofCusco, Peru

A serological survey was performed using the enzyme-linked immunoelectrotra nsfer blot assay (EITB) in a village in the highlands of Peru where there a re three distinct but close neighborhoods, to determine if there is a direc t relationship between human and porcine Taenia solium infection. One hundr ed and eight out of 365 individuals were sampled, and 14 were seropositive (human seroprevalence 13%). Most seropositive individuals were neurological ly asymptomatic. Thirty-eight out of 89 sampled pigs (43%) were seropositiv e. There was a clear geographical clustering of cases, and positive correla tion between human and porcine seroprevalence was found when comparing the three neighborhoods. Cysticercosis is an important cause of neurological mo rbidity in most developing countries, and control/eradication trials are no w being increasingly applied. Porcine serology provides an appropriate indi cator of T. solium environmental contamination and should be used to estima te the risk of infection when evaluating control measures. (C) 1999 Elsevie r Science B.V. All rights reserved.