Pigs' management practices and exposure to Trichinella spp. in pigs and warthogs in the northern area of Senegal

Vet World Vol.15 September-2022 Article-17

Research Article

Veterinary World, 15(9): 2253-2258

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2022.2253-2258

Kacou Martial N'da¹, Oubri Bassa Gbati¹, Laibané Dieudonné Dahourou^2,3, N'guessan Ezéchiel Schadrac Behou¹, Amadou Traore³, and Joseph Kungu⁴

1. Parasitology and Mycology Laboratory, Public Health - Environment Department, Inter-State School of Veterinary Science and Medicine - EISMV, Dakar, Senegal.
2. Department of Livestock Breeding, Rural Development and Environmental Sciences Institute (ISEDR), University of Dedougou, Dedougou, Burkina Faso.
3. Laboratory of Animal Health and Biology, Department of Animal Productions, Environment and Agricultural Research Institute (INERA), Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
4. Department of Biosecurity Ecosystems and Veterinary Public Health, College of Veterinary Medicine Animal Resources and Biosecurity, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.

Background and Aim: Trichinellosis is a neglected and emerging foodborne zoonosis in Africa. Trichinella infection occurs through the consumption of raw or undercooked infected meat and meat products. This study aimed to assess pigs' management practices and determine the exposure of pigs and warthogs to Trichinella spp. in the northern area of Senegal.

Materials and Methods: Surveys and observations were carried out among 40 pig farmers to assess husbandry practices regarding Trichinella spp. life cycle. In addition, 201 pig meat juices and 83 warthog meat juices were extracted and tested for anti-Trichinella antibodies by indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Results: Most (97%) of farms practiced a traditional farming system with free-ranging of pigs in 85% of farms. Farms had local pig breed without housing and supplementary feeding. Some farmers (27.5%) used slaughter waste to feed pigs and farmers were not aware that free-range farming is a source of infection to Trichinella infection. They were also unaware that some pig diseases could be transmitted to humans. The seroprevalence of Trichinella infection was 10.9% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 6.6–15.2%) in pigs and 10.8% (95% CI: 4.16–17.52%) in warthogs with significantly higher seroprevalence in male (22.2%: 95% CI: 6.6–37.8%) compared to female (9.2%; 95% CI: 4.9–13.5%) (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: The confirmation of exposure to Trichinella spp. in this area in pigs and warthogs shows a significant risk of transmission of this disease to humans if the farming conditions and the health surveillance system are not respected. However, control measures are needed to reduce any risk of transmission of Trichinella infection to humans. Keywords: epidemiological studies, pig management, Senegal, Trichinella infection, warthog.

Keywords: epidemiological studies, pig management, Senegal, Trichinella infection, warthog.

How to cite this article: N'da KM, Gbati OB, Dahourou LD, Behou NES, Traore A, and Kungu J (2022) Pigs' management practices and exposure to Trichinella spp. in pigs and warthogs in the northern area of Senegal, Veterinary World, 15(9): 2253–2258.

Received: 03-05-2022 Accepted: 17-08-2022 Published online: 20-09-2022

Corresponding author: Kacou Martial N'da E-mail: ndakacoumartial@gmail.com

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2022.2253-2258

Copyright: N'da, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.