Prevalence of Taenia solium cysticercosis in swine from a community-based study in 21 villages of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

The pork tapeworm, Taenia solium, causative organism of porcine cysticercosis and human neurocysticercosis is known to occur in areas of South Africa including Eastern Cape Province but, despite increasing reports of its occurrence throughout the subregion, the prevalence is yet to be clearly established. The parasite presents a potentially serious agricultural problem and public health risk in endemic areas. The human populations considered to be at highest risk of infection with this zoonotic helminth are people living in rural areas most of whom earn their livelihood wholly or partially through livestock rearing. Here we report on initial results of a community-based study of pigs owned by resource-poor, emerging pig producers from 21 villages in the Eastern Cape Province. Lingual examination (tongue palpation) in live pigs, two enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), which detect parasite antigen (B158/B60 Ag-ELISA and HP10 Ag-ELISA) and an enzyme immunotransfer blot (EITB) assay, which detects antiparasite antibody, were used to verify endemicity and estimate apparent prevalence. In the absence of a gold standard true prevalence was obtained, using a Bayesian approach, with a model that uses both available data and prior information. Results indicate that the parasite is indeed present in the study villages and that true prevalence was 64.6%. The apparent prevalences as measured by each of the four tests were: 11.9% for lingual examination, 54.8% for B158/B60 Ag-ELISA, 40.6% for HP10 Ag-ELISA and 33.3% for EITB. This base-line knowledge of the prevalence of T. solium in pigs provides information essential to the design and monitoring of sustainable and appropriate interventions for cysticercosis prevention and control

Fear appeals in anti-smoking advertising : how important is self-efficacy?

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Marketing Management on 11 October 2012, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0267257X.2012.715092Fear appeals are frequently used in anti-smoking advertising. The evidence on the effectiveness of fear appeals is mixed, and in some studies strong fear appeals have been found to reinforce the undesirable behaviour. Individual self-efficacy may play a role in moderating the effects of fear appeals. In advertising contexts where the intention was to encourage socially desirable behaviours, it has been shown that greater self-efficacy is associated with a more positive response to fear appeals. Similarly, in such contexts, the perceived ethicality of a fear-appeal advertisement appears to be positively related to self-efficacy. The purpose of this article is to examine the relationship between self-efficacy, perceived ethicality, and the impact of advertising on behavioural intentions in a context where the aim is to discourage undesirable behaviour, namely anti-smoking advertising. Questionnaire data were gathered from 434 respondents in London, England. Respondents with higher reported self-efficacy were found to have more favourable views of the ethicality of fear-appeal advertising, more positive attitudes towards the advertising, and stronger intentions to quit smoking. It is recommended that when using fear appeals in advertising to discourage undesirable behaviour, advertisers should incorporate messages designed to enhance self-efficacy.Peer reviewe