Historical Overview of Taenia asiatica in Taiwan

An overview of the epidemiological, biological, and clinical studies of Taenia and taeniasis in Taiwan for the past century is presented. The phenomenal observations that led to the discovery of Taenia asiatica as a new species, which differ from Taenia solium and Taenia saginata, are described. Parasitological surveys of the aborigines in Taiwan revealed a high prevalence of taeniasis, which might be due to the culture of eating raw liver of hunted wild boars. Chemotherapeutic deworming trials involving many patients with taeniasis were discussed. Praziquantel was found to be very effective, but sometimes complete worms could not be recovered from the feces after treatment, probably due to the dissolution of the proglottids. Atabrine, despite some side effects, can still be used, in properly controlled dosages, as the drug of choice for human T. asiatica infection if we need to recover the expelled worms for morphological examinations. Research results on the infection of T. asiatica eggs from Taiwan aborigines in experimental animals were also noted. Since the pig serve as the natural intermediate host of T. asiatica and the predilection site is the liver, a differential comparison of other parasitic pathogens that might cause apparently similar lesions is also presented.

Inquérito epidemiológico sobre teníase em populacão do programa saúde da família no município de Uberaba, MG / Epidemiologic survery of teniasis in health and family program in Uberaba, MG

Foi realizado inquérito para avaliar alguns aspectos epidemiológicos da teníase em 100.144 indivíduos do Programa Saúde da Família. Foram identificados 185 (0,2 por cento) indivíduos com antecedentes de teníase. Destes, 112 (60,5 por cento) receberam tratamento com praziquantel. Em 97 (86,6 por cento) dos casos, houve eliminacão de proglotes que corresponderam a Taenia saginata e Taenia solium em 36 (37,1 por cento) e 4 (4,1 por cento), respectivamente.

Human taenaisis and cysticercosis in slaughtered cattle, buffaloes and pigs in Egypt

Human taeniasis and cysticercosis are zoonotic parasites of considerable public health problem. A total of 6434039 slaughtered animals over a period of 4 years [1994-1997] showed 0.72% cysticercosis [bovis and cellulosae] infections. Individual animal species infection was 0.23% in native breed cattle, 7.25% in imported cattle, 0.14 in buffalos and 0.09% in pigs. The highly infested parts were the heart [64.2%], followed by the head [34.5%], the whole body [1.1%] and lastly, the quarter [0.2%] in both types of cattle and the heart [64.3%], the head [34.9%], the whole body [0.6%] and the quarter [0.2%] in buffalos. In pigs, the highly infested parts were the whole body [55.4%], followed by the heart [37.8%] and lastly the head [6.8%]. Some interesting cysticercosis was macroscopically and microscopically, parasitologically and histopathologically studied

Un caso de probable neurocisticercosis en un lactante / Probable neurocysticercosis in an infant

La cisticercosis es la parasitosis que más frecuentemente compromete el sistema nervioso central y su prevalencia está estrictamente relacionada con el saneamiento ambiental. Se presenta habitualmente en adultos de edad media, siendo infrecuente su aparición en la edad pediátrica. Su aspecto clínico varía desde cuadros asintomáticos hasta las manifestaciones de diversos cuadros neurológicos, por lo cual su diagnóstico no es fácil y debe complementarse con técnicas de imágenes y serología específica. Presentamos el caso de un lactante que consultó por una hemiplejía de instalación aguda y en cuya tomografía axial computarizada cerebral mostró múltiples imágenes granulomatosas, planteándonos un problema de diagnóstico diferencial con lesiones de etiología bacteriana; se logró un acercamiento diagnóstico gracias al estudio epidemiológico de su grupo familiar

Taeniasis en tres comunidades del departamento de Intibucá / Taeniasis in three communities

El presente estudio fue realizado en el departamento de Intibucá durante el año de 1988; tomamos tres comunidades del Valle de Jesús de Otoro que compartieron caracteristicas de tipo sociales, culturales y relacionadas entre si. OBJETIVOS. Determinar la prevalencia de Teniasis en tres comunidades del Valle de Jesús de Otoro; Identificar factores epidemiológicos relacionados e identificar la especie de Taenia en cada caso en partícular. METODOLOGIA. Se realizó un muestreo estratificado, fijando como unidad de estudio las personas mayores de dos años; levantamos una encuesta con los datos epidemiológicos pertinentes y se les solicito una muestra de heces a cada persona mayor de dos años que resultara favorecida para el estudio, el procesamiento inicial de las heces de realizó en la comunidad sede (Jesús de Otoro) trasladándose posteriormente a Tegucigalpa para su evaluación microscópica, una vez identificada la persona portadora del parásito se le brindó tratamiento con albendazol por 3 días y sus heces fueron evaluadas durante cinco días para tratar de recolectar proglótides para su tinción e identificación definitiva. METODOS DE LABORATORIO. Usamos el método de Kato modificado, ésta elección resultó muy útil para la identificación de huevos de helmintos en general, además intentamos usar el método de la cinta adhesiva (método de Graham), pero ésta técnica resultó difícil de autopracticarse echándose a perder casi en su totalidad por lo que no se mencionará en lo sucesivo. RESULTADOS. De las 774 muestras de heces evaluadas, hallamos huevos de Taenia sp en 18 de ellas, lo que significa un 2.3 por ciento, 16 personas eran del sexo femenino y solo dos del sexo masculino, al hacer un análisis de Teniasis por comunidad encontramos que en La angostura se encontró el parásito en un 6.3 por ciento de la población estudiada. Obtuvimos proglótides de la mitad de las personas afectadas logrando identificar 7 especies de T. solium y solo dos de T. saginata

Treatment of human taeniasis in the Philippines: a review.

Studies relating to the treatment of human taeniasis in the Philippines using Atabrine, bithionol, and mebendazole are reviewed. Cure rates of 93.7% for Atabrine, 85%-100% for bithionol, and 84.62% for mebendazole are reported. Aside from these studies, recent experience in the treatment of Taenia saginata infections at the Department of Parasitology, College of Public Health, is also reported. Twenty patients referred to the department were treated, 3 with bithionol, 17 with praziquantel. Of the 17 patients treated with praziquantel, the study reported cure rates of 47-88.24%.

Control of Taenia solium taeniasis and cysticercosis by focus-oriented chemotherapy of taeniasis.

The mortality, mortality, and disability due to Taenia solium neurocysticercosis are common and serious health problems in some regions, including several Asian countries. Neurocysticercosis in man and cysticercosis in pigs can be controlled by treatment, in man with a single, low (2 1/2 or 5 mg/kg) and safe dose of praziquantel. The problem which remains is the identification of a Taenia solium taeniasis foci. The definition of a focus is: T. solium-infected or suspected case; household with recent case of epilepsy in family or cysticercosis in pigs; group of houses or a village with high rate of cysticercosis in pigs. In a rural area a focus can be easily identified by tracing infected pigs to their place of origin, or in vivo tongue examination. All people with suspected T. solium taeniasis in a focus should be treated.

Studies on the comparative efficacy of mebendazole, flubendazole and niclosamide against human tapeworm infections.

The efficacy of Mebendazole and Niclosamide was studied in two groups of 24 and 38 cases, respectively of patients suffering from taeniasis. Mebendazole with dose schedule of 200 and 300 mg twice daily for 3 consecutive days showed a cure rate of 71.42% and 92.30%, whereas Niclosamide at the dose rate of 200mg per patient was 94.76% effective. Flubendazole showed a cure rate of 66.66% only. Mebendazole and Niclosamide possess high taeniacidal activity, ability to reduce the clinical symptoms of taeniasis without any side effects. Niclosamide with high activity and excellent tolerance, is a drug of choice for the treatment of taeniasis in single dose treatment while for hymenolepsiasis it needs extended course.

The optimum dose of Puag-Haad in the treatment of taeniasis.

Forty-two per cent of 24 patients with Taeniasis saginata were cured by two-gram dose of a crude aqueous extract of the wood Artocarpus lakoocha, Puag-Haad, while eighty per cent of 25 patients were cured by three-gram dose which is comparable to the results of five-gram dose but had less side-effect. Thus, the three-gram dose of Puag-Haad is recommended in the treatment of taeniasis.

Terapêutica da teníase e da himenolepíase com as doses mais eficazes de praziquantel segundo nossa experiência / Therapeutical approach to teniasis and himenolepíasis with the most effective dose schedules of praziquantel according to our experience

Após investigaçöes clínicas com diferentes doses de praziquantel, apresenta-se experiência no tratamento das parasitoses intestinais por Taenia e por Hymenolepis nana com as doses que se mostraram mais eficazes: 10mg/Kg e 25mg/Kg, respectivamente. Foram tratados 90 pacientes infectados por Taenia, diagnosticados pela tamisaçäo das fezes, pelo método da fita adesiva de Graham e pelo método de Lutz, e 128 portadores de himenolepíase, diagnosticados pelo exame de fezes segundo os métodos de sedimentaçäo de Lutz e de flutuaçäo de Faust. O controle de cura foi baseado nos mesmos métodos, sendo realizado nos 30§, 60§ e 90§ dias após o tratamento, nos casos de teníase, e nos 7§, 14§ e 21§ dias, nos casos de himenolepíase. O índice de cura para a teníase foi de 96,6% e para a himenolepíase de 97,6%. A tolerabilidade do medicamento foi considerada boa, tendo em vista a baixa incidência de efeitos colaterais

Studies on taeniasis in Taiwan. V. Field trial on evaluation of therapeutic efficacy of mebendazole and praziquantel against taeniasis.

Taeniasis is a major public health problem among the aboriginal populations on Taiwan, and is highly prevalent and wide spread in the mountain areas of 10 Counties. Over 27,000 cases of tapeworm infection are estimated influencing the health and economy in the endemic areas. A treatment of taeniasis with mebendazole and praziquantel followed by a re-treatment with atabrine has been done in the field trial, and confirmed that praziquantel is highly effective agent against tapeworm infection, but mebendazole is not. Based upon experiments reported here praziquantel in a single dose of 150 mg, and 450 mg are highly effective against taeniasis and hymenolepiasis respectively.

Ensaio clínico com flubendazol no tratamento das teníases / Clinical assays with flubendazole in treatment of taeniasis

O autor tratou no Hospital das Clínicas da UFPE com uma nova substância anti-helmíntica-flubendazol - 30 pacientes portadores de teníases. A medicaçäo foi administrada na dose de dois comprimidos (200mg) após o desjejum e dois comprimidos após o jantar, durante três dias consecutivos. Obteve 80% de cura parasitológica e os efeitos colaterais foram observados em 10 enfermos (33,33%) e constaram de cefaléia (oito casos), náuseas (cinco casos) e vômitos(dois doentes)

Purgative and anthelmintic effects of Mallotus philippinensis in rats against tape worm.

A resin isolated from Mallotus philippinensis (Kamala) caused a significant purgative effect after an oral dose (120 mg/kg) in rats as assessed from the weight of faeces as well as from the surface area of blotting paper soaked by liquid faeces. The anthelmintic effect of the resin was evaluated in albino rats found to be infested with tape worms. The resin in 60 and 120 mg/kg dose had a lethal effect on 35.69% and 78.21% population of tape worms respectively, in small intestine.

Tratamiento de Teniasis y de Himenolepiasis con Praziquantel / Treatment of Teniasis and Hymenolepiasis using Praziquantel

Se hizo una evaluacion de praziquantel en el tratamiento de 60 casos de teniasis por TAENIA SOLIUM o T. SAGINATA, utilizando dosis unica de 10 mg/kg en la mitad de los pacientes y de 5 mg/kg en la otra mitad, con 100% de curacion. Se trataron con la misma droga 30 pacientes con himenolepiasis, 27 con HYMENOLEPIS NANA y 3 con H. DIMINUTA, en quienes se obtuvo curacion de 81.5% en el primer grupo y de los 3 casos del segundo grupo. La dosis utilizada fue unica, de 25 mg/kg en la mitad de los casos y de 15 mg/kg en la otra mitad. El medicamento se tolero bien y no demostro efectos toxicos. Se concluye que el praziquantel tiene ventajas sobre los tenicidas y tenifugos usados en la actualidad y anteriormente. Se realizo una evaluacion clinica de los pacientes parasitados por tenias y aunque se obtuvo una amplia variacion de sintomas, atribuidos por los pacientes a esta parasitosis, no se pudo concluir hasta que punto esa sintomatologia era realmente debida a la teniasis. El signo predominante, presente en 88.3% fue la eliminacion de proglotides, bien fuera espontaneamente o con las materias fecales. En los casos de himenolepiasis, principalmente en ninos, predomino la sintomatologia digestiva, dificil de decidir hasta que grado era producida por esta parasitosis o por causas asociadas

Treatment of taeniasis with Puag-Haad: a crude extract of Artocarpus lakoocha wood.

Thirty-nine patients with tapeworm infection were treated with five grams of crude aqueous extract of Artocarpus lakoocha wood, "Puag-Haad". Seven of them vomited the drug immediately. Of the 32 patients, segments with scolices of Taenia saginata and of Taenia solium were recovered from 24 and 2 patients respectively. The side effects were vomiting and nausea.