Helminth Zoonoses in the Philippines: Public Health Problems Associated with Eating Habits and Practices

Abstract

A number of helminth zoonoses have been recorded in the Philippines, and the majority of these are transmitted through food. These include echinostomosis, artichinostomosis, heterophydosis, camcophallosis, paragonimosis, opisthorchiosis, fasciolosis, taeniosis/cysticercosis, spirometrosis/sparganosis, gnathostomosis, intestinal capillariosis, angiostrongylosis, and anisakiosis. The causative agents involved, animal hosts, human infections with these diseases, and their distribution and transmission are discussed.

Taenia saginata asiatica is recently recognized as one of the two causes of human taeniosis in the Philippines. Previous reports locally of Taenia saginata were in fact of Taenia saginata asiatica, thus data for the former are now referable to the latter. The pig and its liver serve as the intermediate host and organ predilection site of the cysticercus (larval form), respectively, for this species. Accordingly, meat inspection of slaughter pigs should now include the examination of the liver and not only of the muscles, as currently practiced. The mudfish, Channa striata (dalag), is recently recorded to harbor the larva of Gnathostoma doloresi. Human infection with the nematode may occur through ingestion of improperly cooked infected fish.

While some of these zoonotic diseases are now rarely observed, still others continue to be public health problems. Many are endemic in certain areas of the Philippines because of the food habit of consuming raw or partly cooked fish, edible snails, crustaceans, and meat in these areas.

More studies on the epidemiology and transmission, including the animal hosts involved locally, are still needed for some of these problems. Changing eating habits and practices can prevent human infection with many of these diseases. Proper disposal of fecal materials from both humans and animals can also help control or, if not, cut the life cycle of many of these infectious agents. These, however, require an aggressive health education campaign in order to be successful.