Every week, an average of two children are diagnosed with epilepsy at Frere Hospital in East London, Eastern Cape. And this is merely one facility. This statistic is contained in a recent research report by veterinarian Dr Caryn Shacklock, technical and laboratory manager at Afrivet.
According to Shacklock, 60% of these cases are caused by neurocysticercosis (NCC), a human neurological disease caused by the tapeworm Taenia solium, which is also found in pigs.
She adds that epilepsy is a serious problem in South Africa's rural areas, where informal pigkeeping operations (50 pigs or fewer) are plentiful.
In a 2019 report, the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) estimated that just over 890 000 pigs were kept informally by 208 312 households in South Africa. Almost
