[Epidemic trend and control progress of taeniasis and cysticercosis in Henan Province].

Henan Province is one of the provinces where taeniasis and cysticercosis were historically highly prevalent, and Taenia solium is the dominant species of tapeworm. Following the concerted efforts since 1970s, the prevalence of human taeniasis and cysticercosis has been maintained at a low level in Henan Province, which facilitates the national taeniasis and cysticercosis elimination program in China. Following the implementation of the policy of aeniasis and cysticercosis elimination and classified guidance, a great success has been achieved in aeniasis and cysticercosis control in Henan Province. With continuous promotion of the opening-up policy and the Belt and Road Initiative, there are still challenges in taeniasis and cysticercosis control. This review summarizes the control progress of taeniasis and cysticercosis and proposes the challenges of taeniasis and cysticercosis control in Henan Province.

[Evaluation of efficiency of different anti-cysticercus antibody test kits for serodiagnosis of cysticercosis].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the diagnostic efficiency of four anti-cysticercus IgG, IgG4 or IgM antibody test kits (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, ELISA) by different manufacturers, so as to provide insights into the epidemiological investigation and clinical detection of cysticercosis. METHODS: Forty serum samples from cerebral cysticercosis patients, 100 serum samples from healthy volunteers, 30 serum samples from paragonimiasis skrjabini patients, 17 serum samples from cystic echinococcosis and 19 serum samples from subcutaneous or cerebral sparganosis patients were collected and detected using anti-cysticercus IgG, IgG4 or IgM antibody test kits (brand A) and the anti-cysticercus IgG antibody test kit (brand B). The sensitivity, specificity and false negative rate of the four kits for detection of cysticercosis were estimated. RESULTS: The anti-cysticercus IgG, IgG4 or IgM antibody test kits (brand A) showed 95.00% (38/40), 87.50% (35/40), 7.50% (3/40) sensitivities and 98.00% (98/100), 100.00% (100/100) and 100.00% (100/100) for detection of cysticercosis, while the anti-cysticercus IgG antibody test kit (brand B) presented a 75.00% (30/40) sensitivity and 100.00% (100/100) specificity for detection of cysticercosis. The sensitivity for detection of cysticercosis was significantly higher by the anti-cysticercus IgG antibody test kit (brand A) than by the anti-cysticercus IgG antibody test kit (brand B) (χ2 = 6.28, P < 0.05); however, no significant difference was seen in the specificity by two kits (χ2 = 2.01, P > 0.05). The four ELISA kits showed overall false positive rates of 37.88% (25/66), 22.73% (15/66), 62.12% (41/66) and 15.15% (10/66) for detection of paragonimiasis, echinococcosis and sparganosis (χ2 = 37.61, P < 0.05), and the anti-cysticercus IgG antibody test kit (brand A) presented the highest overall false positive rate for detection of paragonimiasis, echinococcosis and sparganosis (χ2 = 7.56, P' < 0.008), while a higher overall false positive rate was seen for detection of paragonimiasis, echinococcosis and sparganosis by the anti-cysticercus IgG antibody test kit (brand A) than by the anti-cysticercus IgG antibody test kit (brand B) (χ2 = 8.75, P' < 0.008). The four ELISA kits showed false positive rates of 40.00% (12/30), 16.67% (5/30), 76.67% (23/30) and 13.33% (4/30) for detection of paragonimiasis (χ2 = 32.88, P < 0.05) and 21.05% (4/19), 26.32% (5/19), 73.68% (14/19) and 15.79% (3/19) for detection of sparganosis (χ2 = 19.97, P < 0.05), and the highest false positive rates were found by the anti-cysticercus IgM antibody test kit (brand A) for detection of paragonimiasis and sparganosis (all P' < 0.008). However, the four ELISA kits showed comparable false positive rates of 52.94% (9/17), 29.41% (5/17), 23.53% (4/17) and 17.65% (3/17) for detection of echinococcosis (χ2 = 8.24, P > 0.05). In addition, the anti-cysticercus IgM anti-body test kit (brand A) showed false positive rates of 76.67% (23/30), 23.53% (4/17) and 73.68% (14/19) for detection of paragonimiasis, echinococcosis and sparganosis (χ2 = 14.537, P < 0.05), with the lowest false positive rate seen for detection of echinococcosis (χ2 = 14.537, P' < 0.014), while no significant differences were seen in the false positive rate for detection of paragonimiasis, echinococcosis and sparganosis by other three ELISA kits (all P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The four anti-cysticercus IgG, IgG4 or IgM antibody test kits exhibit various efficiencies for serodiagnosis of cysticercosis. The anti-cysticercus IgG antibody test kit (brand A) has a high sensitivity for serodiagnosis of cysticercosis; however, it still needs to solve the problems of cross-reaction with other parasitic diseases and stability.

[Effectiveness of health education interventions targeting taeniasis and cysticercosis among primary school students in disease-elimination pilot areas of Henan Province].

OBJECTIVE: To compare the changes of knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) related to taeniasis and cysticercosis among primary school students before and after health education interventions in disease-elimination pilot areas of Henan Province, so as to evaluate the effectiveness of health education interventions. METHODS: A primary school was selected from each of Dushu, Bowang and Yangji townships, Fangcheng County, Henan Province from 2017 to 2019; then, 2 to 3 classes were randomly selected from grade 4 to 6 in each primary school, and finally, all students in these classes were enrolled as study subjects. A thematic health education lecture pertaining to taeniasis and cysticercosis was given once each year by means of "health education in class". The KAP towards taeniasis and cysticercosis was investigated among primary school students using selffilled structured questionnaires, and the changes of awareness of taeniasis and cysticercosis control knowledge and percentage of healthy behaviors formation were compared in primary school students among years and following various frequencies of health education interventions. RESULTS: More than 10 thousand person-time primary school students received health education interventions during the period from 2017 to 2019, and a total of 1 223 person-time primary school students were investigated during the 3-year study period, including 633 person-time men and 590 person-time women and 88.55% of primary school students at ages of 10 to 12 years. The proportion of households raising pigs and using dry toiliets decreased from 5.30% (24/453) and 18.10% (82/453) in 2017 to 3.60% (13/361) and 11.08% (40/361) in 2019, respectively. The awareness rate of taeniasis and cysticercosis control knowledge increased significantly from 0.22% (1/453) in 2017 to 62.59% (256/409) in 2018 and 76.73% (277/361) in 2019 (χ2 = 567.60, P < 0.001), and the awareness rate was 85.25% (104/122) among primary school students attending the thematic special health education courses for successive three times. The awareness rates of taeniasis and cysticercosis control knowledge were 0.44% (1/225), 58.00% (116/200) and 71.63% (149/208) among male students and 0 (0/338), 66.99% (140/209) and 83.66% (128/153) among female students from 2017 to 2019, and there was a significant difference in the awareness of taeniasis and cysticercosis control knowledge between male and female students in 2019 (χ2 = 7.14, P = 0.01). On-site teaching by doctors was the students' favorite way to receive health education interventions (70.07%, 857/1 223), followed by watching health education videos (58.63%, 717/1 223) and seeing parasite specimens (48.9%, 598/1 223). The proportion of students' families who used cutting boards for raw and cooked food separately increased from 7.28% (33/453) in 2017 to 47.37% (171/361) in 2019, was 67.21% (82/122) among students attending the health education courses for successive three times. The proportion of students who frequently washed their hands before meals and after using toilet increased from 71.96% (324/453) in 2017 to 89.47% (319/361) in 2019 and was 95.90% (117/122) among students attending the health education courses for successive three times. In addition, the percentage of students washing hands frequently in families using dry toilets was significantly lower in those who did not use dry toilets (χ2 = 9.21, P = 0.002), and the proportion of students with a habit of eating raw or undercooked meat decreased significantly from 35.76% (162/453) in 2017 to 6.65% (24/361) in 2019 (χ2 = 69.11, P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The thematic health education activity of "health education in class" contributes greatly to the increase in the awareness of taeniasis and cysticercosis control knowledge and the rate of healthy behaviors formation among primary school students in diseaseelimination pilot areas of Henan Province.