Abstract
Taenia solium is a zoonotic cestode that causes taeniasis and cysticercosis in humans. The parasite is traditionally found in developing countries where undercooked pork is consumed under poor sanitary conditions and/or as part of traditional food cultures. However, the recent increase in international tourism and immigration is spreading the disease into non-endemic developed countries such as the United States. Although there has been concern that the number of cysticercosis cases is increasing in Japan, the current situation is not clear. This is largely because taeniasis and cysticercosis are not notifiable conditions in Japan and because there have been no comprehensive reviews of T. solium infections in Japan conducted in the last 15 years. Herein, we provide an overview of the status of T. solium infection in Japan over the past 35 years and point out the potential risks to Japanese society.
Highlights
Taenia solium is a zoonotic cestode that causes taeniasis and cysticercosis in humans
Taeniasis refers to the intestinal infection with the adult stage of the tapeworm, which is acquired by eating undercooked pork contaminated with cysticerci
Cysticercosis refers to infection of various tissues with the larval stage of the tapeworm, which is acquired by ingestion of parasite eggs released from taeniasis carriers
Summary
Taenia solium is a zoonotic cestode that causes taeniasis and cysticercosis in humans. There has been concern that the number of cysticercosis cases is increasing in Japan, the current situation is not clear This is largely because taeniasis and cysticercosis are not notifiable conditions in Japan and because there have been no comprehensive reviews of T. solium infections in Japan conducted in the last 15 years. Recent trends in international tourism into remote or rural areas, expansion of global business and an increase in immigrants and refugees have increased the number of taeniasis and cysticercosis cases in the developed country such as the United States [6,7]. The three new cysticercosis case reports were diagnosed using neuroimaging and confirmed with immunoblot and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using recombinant chimeric antigens [14] These individuals were tested for taeniasis using multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) [15] and loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) [16]. Only 12% of cysticercosis cases (3/25) either sero-negative and/or no serologic test applied for were treated with chemotherapy, but 88% (22/25) of them were treated surgically, often being misdiagnosed as having a brain tumor [20,21,22]
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