Prevalence of and factors associated with human cysticercosis in 60 villages in three provinces of Burkina Faso

BACKGROUND: Taenia solium, a zoonotic infection transmitted between humans and pigs, is considered an emerging infection in Sub-Saharan Africa, yet individual and community-level factors associated with the human infection with the larval stages (cysticercosis) are not well understood. This study aims to estimate the magnitude of association of individual-level and village-level factors with current human cysticercosis in 60 villages located in three Provinces of Burkina Faso.

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Baseline cross-sectional data collected between February 2011 and January 2012 from a large community randomized-control trial were used. A total of 3609 individuals provided serum samples to assess current infection with cysticercosis. The association between individual and village-level factors and the prevalence of current infection with cysticercosis was estimated using Bayesian hierarchical logistic models. Diffuse priors were used for all regression coefficients. The prevalence of current cysticercosis varied across provinces and villages ranging from 0% to 11.5%. The results obtained suggest that increased age, being male and consuming pork as well as a larger proportion of roaming pigs and percentage of sand in the soil measured at the village level were associated with higher prevalences of infection. Furthermore, consuming pork at another village market had the highest increased prevalence odds of current infection. Having access to a latrine, living in a household with higher wealth quintiles and a higher soil pH measured at the village level decreased the prevalence odds of cysticercosis.

CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This is the first large-scale study to examine the association between variables measured at the individual-, household-, and village-level and the prevalence odds of cysticercosis in humans. Factors linked to people, pigs, and the environment were of importance, which further supports the need for a One Health approach to control cysticercosis infection.