Emerging Infectious Diseases

Introduction: Pigs in Bangladesh are mainly reared by non-Muslim minorities such as tribal communities, Christians and lower caste Hindus. Pigs can harbor and spread zoonotic parasites more efficiently compared to other domestic species. Our objective was to identify the zoonotic organisms of the domestic pigs of Bangladesh.
 

Methodology: We reviewed the published literatures to identify different zoonotic pathogens like virus, bacteria and parasites in Bangladesh. We found 12 published manuscripts from Bangladesh which has described different zoonotic diseases of pigs. Among those seven were on parasitic diseases, five on viral diseases and one on bacterial diseases.
 

Results: By fecal sample examination ova of seven zoonotic helminths were identified: Fasciolopsis sp. (1%-66%), Taenia sp. (8%-24%), Diphyllobothrium sp. (3%-24%), Ascaris sp. (38%-62%), Gnathostoma sp. (19%), Trichuris sp. (5%-24%) and Necator sp. (2.6%). By post-mortem examination three zoonotic helminthes were reported: Fasciolopsis buski (37%-55%), Ascaris suum (60%-66%) and Trichuris suis (57%-60%). Ova of Fasciolopsis sp., and Ascaris sp. were reported in six and Trichuris sp. in five manuscripts. Seroprevalence of avian influenza (2.3-12%), hepatitis E (82%) and Japanese encephalitis virus (30%) has been detected among the pigs of Bangladesh. Antibodies against Nipah virus glycoprotein was found among pigs (82%) using luminex assay. Seroprevalence of brucella has also been reported from pigs.
 

Conclusion: Domestic pigs of Bangladesh can carry and shed zoonotic diseases. We do not know many pigborne zoonotic diseases reported from other tropical countries. Further investigation needs to be carried out to determine the prevalence of different zoonotic diseases carried by pigs which will be helpful for understanding the disease epidemiology and developing strategic control measures.