Gastrointestinal helminths and heamoparasites are said to be among the most devastating diseases for livestock. However the diseases are often overlooked because clinical symptoms are rarely apparent. Losses of production occur mainly from retarded growth and delayed fertility. Pigs are among the abundant livestock potentials which Nigeria is endowed with. Prominent among their usefulness are: provision of animal protein for human consumption, employment generation (livestock farming, processing and marketing) and revenue generation with significant contribution to the Nation's Gross Domestic Product (GPD). The above notwithstanding, sustainable development of this sector is faced with quite a number of constraints, prominent among which is diseases especially helminthiasis. The effects of helminths on their host are generally insidious, undermining host health and increasing susceptibility to secondary infections with ensuing mortality, particularly when compounded by additional stress such as poor hygiene, overcrowding and malnutrition among others. In addition to helminthic infections which cause direct economic losses due to reduced animal production, several helminthic infections remain major public health problem i.e. when the infections are transmitted to man – a condition known as Zoonosis e.g. Taeniasis caused by the helminth, Taenia solium. Some of these helminths have complex life cycles which require man as their final or intermediate host in order to complete their life cycles – a process which is harmful to man.
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A 2008 study studied this question.