An epidemiological study of familial neurocysticercosis in an endemic Mexican community

Abstract

Neurocysticercosis (NC) caused by Taenia solium is a frequent parasitic disease of the central nervous system. It is highly endemic in many developing countries, where many people are exposed but few become infected. Here, the relevance of age, gender, and genetic and exposure factors on NC susceptibility was studied in 649 inhabitants of a rural community of Mexico. Endemicity was confirmed by the high prevalence of pig cysticercosis (32.8%) and human seroprevalence (43.8%). Human NC cases were diagnosed by computerised tomography scans. A questionnaire to evaluate risk factors was applied and familial relationships between participants were registered. An overall NC frequency of 9.1% (59/649) was found. NC frequency increased with age but did not associate with gender. Most NC cases were asymptomatic. None of the evaluated risk factors were associated with NC. No familial aggregation was detected when studying all cases, although a significant relationship between mother and child in cases with multiple parasites was found. These findings point to the fact that human NC in high exposure conditions is not simply related to exposure factors and they do not support the participation of a major gene in single-cyst NC. Rather, our results point to a complex interaction of genetic and environmental factors involved in NC.

Human Neurocysticercosis: Comparison of Different Diagnostic Tests Using Cerebrospinal Fluid

“…This disease represents a major public health problem in areas of endemicity in Latin America, Africa, and Asia (18,29,33,36) and has been diagnosed with increasing frequency in the United States, primarily as an imported disease (8). In Mexico, seroprevalence rates for human cysticercosis ranged from 3.7 to 12.2% (18), and computerized-tomography (CT)-based epidemiological studies performed on inhabitants of rural communities have found an NC prevalence as high as 10% (14,17).…”

Seroprevalence and risk factors of cysticercosis in two rural communities from northern of Anzoátegui state, Venezuela

“…Estos resultados concuerdan con la mayoría de los estudios epidemiológicos de Venezuela (26,28,30) y de otros países latinoamericanos (13,16,20).…”

Human and porcine neurocysticercosis: differences in the distribution and developmental stages of cysticerci

“…In humans and pigs, the parasite is frequently located in the central nervous system (CNS), causing neurocysticercosis (NC) (De Aluja & Vargas 1988;Fleury et al 2006a;Prasad et al 2006).…”

“…Human NC may be asymptomatic (Briceñ o et al 1961;Villagran & Olvera 1988;Fleury et al 2003Fleury et al , 2006a but it can also be manifested by a wide variety of unspecific signs and symptoms (i.e. seizures, headache, etc.)…”