In Barbalha, municipal district of Ceará state, an assessment of cases of porcine cysticercosis, taeniasis and human neurocysticercosis caused by the Taenia solium was performed in order to evaluate the situation of these diseases. It was also carried out a research about the types of swine farms registered in the area. Considering the 85 swine slaughtered at the slaughterhouse of Barbalha, 4.7% presented cysticercosis. Most cysticerci were located in the tongue and in the heart. Between 2001 and 2004, from 302 swine farms denounced to the Sanitary Surveillance, 9.6% were pigsties. Taeniasis, between 1998 and 2003, corresponded to 1.1% of the helminthes diagnosed by the Municipal Health Office. From 2001 to 2003, the cases of human neurocysticercosis corresponded to 5% of the skull tomographies requested in the hospitals of the area.
swine; cisticercosis; taeniasis; human neurocysticercosis; epidemiology
