The prevalence of Taenia solium metacestodes in pigs in northern Tanzania.

Eighty three carcasses of pigs were examined at three abattoirs in Moshi, Arusha and Mbulu in northern Tanzania. Taenia solium metacestodes were found in all the three abattoirs with an overall prevalence of 13.3%. During routine meat inspection in Kiboroloni, Moshi 6.2-6.9% of the pigs were found to harbour T. solium metacestodes. The mean number of hooks on the protoscolices was 27 and the length of the small hooks varied from 105 microns to 130 microns while that of the larger hooks varied from 168 microns to 174 microns confirming that the cysts were metacestodes of T. solium. Although cystlike lesions were recovered from livers of both pigs and cattle, no hooklets of sizes in the range of 5-37 microns were found indicating that no Taiwan Taenia metacestodes were recovered during carcass examination.