PhD defense by Emma Hobbs (Faculty of Veterinary Medicine)

26-11-2018

 

Towards elimination of Taenia solium in the Eastern Province of Zambia: a call for an integrated approach

Emma Hobbs

 

Supervisors:

Prof. dr. Sarah Gabriël Department of Veterinary Public Health and Food Safety, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University

Prof. dr. Pierre Dorny Department of Virology, Parasitology and Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University

Prof. dr. A. Lee Willingham III Department of Research and Postgraduate Studies, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine

Prof. dr. Jennifer Ketzis Department of Biomedical Sciences, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine

 

Abstract:

Taenia solium (the pork tapeworm) is a neglected tropical parasite common in many developing countries in Asia, Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa where pigs are raised in areas of poverty. Globally, it infects over 50 million people and causes 28,000 human deaths every year, making it the most important food-borne zoonosis. Adult T. solium tapeworms live in human intestines (taeniosis, TS), and shed thousands of infective eggs into the host’s feces every few days. Ingestion of the eggs via contaminated food or water leads to infection with the larval stage of the parasite – usually in pigs (porcine cysticercosis, PCC) but also in humans (human cysticercosis, HCC). HCC can cause serious health problems, particularly when the cysticerci lodge in the host’s brain and spinal cord (neurocysticercosis, NCC). NCC can cause severe progressive headache, blindness and stroke, and is the leading cause of epilepsy in the developing world.

 

You are invited to the public defense on Monday 26 November 2018 @ 4pm.

See https://www.ugent.be/nl/agenda/doctoraten/20181126-DI06