TAENIASIS AND ITS SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPLICATION IN AWASSA TOWN AND ITS SURROUNDINGS, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA

Objective: The study was conducted between October 2005 and April 2006 in Awassa town and its surroundings to investigate the status of T. saginata taeniasis, its socio-economic importance and potential risk factors. Methods: Questionnaire survey was conducted on 120 volunteer individuals selected at random. Additionally, retrospective study on taenicidal drugs inventories at 12 pharmaceutical shops was conducted. Results: T. saginata taeniasis was a wide spread problem in the town and its surroundings with overall prevalence of 64.2% (77 out of 120) and maximum infection frequencies of five times per year. The prevalence of taeniasis was significantly varied between religion, occupation, raw meat consumption and use of spices with raw meat. Accordingly, Christian communities (OR = 5.2, 95% CI=1.20- 22.50), high-risk groups (OR = 4.05, 95% CI=1.27-12.93), raw meat consumers (OR = 7.9, 95% CI=2.46 - 5.66), and spices users (OR = 11.6, 95% CI=2.85- 47.28) had higher likelihood of acquiring taeniasis than Muslim communities, low risk groups, cooked meat eaters and non-spices users, respectively. Conversely, prevalence was not varied between sex, age, marital status and educational backgrounds of the respondents. Respondents’ preferences to available taenicidal drugs had strong linear relationship with drug dose sold (R2 = 0.92), and showed that Niclosamide (46.8%) was the drug of first choice while Praziquantel (13%) was the least preferred drug. The taenicidal drug doses and treatment cost from 2002 to 2005 were estimated to be 4,913,346 adult doses and 820,343 USD (7,219,021 Eth. Birr as per rate of 2006). Conclusion: Taeniasis was a wide spread problem with higher prevalence and frequent infections in the town and its surroundings. Socio-cultural conditions and occupation were the major risk factors for the occurrence of the disease. Hence, owing to its public health and economic importance, taeniasis deserves serious attention in order to safeguard the public health