What are the prevention and treatment methods for porcine cysticercus tenuicollis disease?
After a pig is slaughtered, there is a transparent cyst-like object on the intestines, resembling a blister, ranging in size from a soybean to an egg, commonly known as a "water bell". If examined carefully, a milky-white segment can be seen inside. It is a parasite of livestock, known in veterinary medicine as cysticercus tenuicollis disease. When a dog swallows the still-living cysticercus tenuicollis, the scolex extends from the dog's small intestinal mucosa, attaches to the intestinal wall, and gradually develops into an adult worm - Taenia hydatigena. The adult worm consists of 250-300 proglottids, reaching 150-500 cm in length. Upon sexual maturity it becomes Taenia hydatigena and begins to produce gravid proglottids, which are passed out of the body with its feces. Soon after, the proglottids rupture and release the eggs. Pigs that eat feed contaminated with the eggs or drink water contaminated with the eggs can become infected. In the pig's digestive tract, the embryonic membrane of the egg dissolves, releasing the hexacanth embryo. The larva, by means of its extended six hooks, penetrates the intestinal wall blood vessels, travels with the blood circulation to the liver, and then migrates to the liver surface. Some worms fall from the liver surface into the abdominal cavity and attach to the mesentery and greater omentum. After about 3 months, they develop into infective cysticercus tenuicollis - the "water bell". If people mistakenly render it as unripe fat for oil, or let children play with it, once it is broken it will contaminate food, and people who mistakenly eat the contaminated food can also become infected.
(1) Symptoms
This disease mostly has a chronic course. When a sick pig is parasitized by a small number of worms, no symptoms appear, but when parasitized by a large number of worms, the clinical manifestations include elevated body temperature, reduced appetite, which can cause the pig to become emaciated, physically weak, with an enlarged abdomen, or peritonitis may occur, along with icteric hepatitis, etc.
(2) Prevention and treatment methods
1. Prevention To prevent this disease, when slaughtering pigs, veterinary hygiene inspection procedures must be strictly implemented. If the above phenomenon, namely the "water bell", is found, it should be removed and immediately destroyed or buried deep. It must never be eaten, must not be discarded at will, and must not be fed to dogs, to prevent dogs from developing Taenia hydatigena after eating it and causing chain infection. It is best to prohibit dogs from entering pig pens, and to ensure that feed, drinking water, etc. are not contaminated by the feces of diseased dogs, etc. In areas with the conditions, areca nut and pumpkin seeds can be used for regular deworming of dogs.
2. Treatment
(1) Burn 250 grams of tea seed cake to ash (white), take 1 tablespoon each time, and mix into the feed for oral administration in 4 divided doses.
(2) Mix praziquantel with sterilized liquid paraffin at a ratio of 1:6, grind into powder, and administer orally at a dose of 50 mg per kilogram of pig body weight for 5 consecutive days, or use a dose of 50 mg per kilogram of body weight, divided into two deep intramuscular injections, with an interval of 1 day between each.