Cysticercosis as a Major Risk Factor for Epilepsy in Burundi, East Africa

Nsengiyumva, Georges; Druet‐Cabanac, Michel; Ramanankandrasana, Bienvenue; Bouteille, Bernard; Nsizabira, L; Preux, Pierre‐Marie

doi:10.1046/j.1528-1157.2003.55302.x

Cited by 83 publications

(84 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…On the other hand, the observed prevalence is significantly less to that reported byNsengunya et al [30] which was 31.5% (n = 648) of the health individuals positive to anticysticercal antibodies in Burundi. The human cysticercosis prevalence reported by this study had the highest frequency in ages between 16 -45 years.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 77%

The Serological Survey for Human Cysticercosis Prevalence in Mbulu District, Tanzania

Mwang'onde¹,

Nkwengulila²,

Chacha³

2012

AID

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Human cysticercosis, a zoonotic disease due to Taeniasolium, is of the highly debilitating and stigmatizing neglected tropical diseases due to epilepsy, ophthalmia and dermatological disorders in endemic developing countries. Tanzania is among the sub-Saharan African countries with an average prevalence of porcine cysticercosis 17.2% [1], which increases the risk of human cysticercosis infection. Studies on people with epilepsy in northern zone of Tanzania show a 16.2% [2] to be suffering from neurocysticercosis. While this was the case, there were no single report on the prevalence of human cysticercosis neither to regular hospital visitors, admissions, and nor general public that result to insufficient deployment of intervention strategies. Study was performed to assess the prevalence of human cysticercosis in general public in Mbulu district. The cephalic venous blood was collected from assorted community members. Serum was extracted and then subjected to Cysticercus IgG Western Blot Assay for human cysticercosis sero-screening. It was found that about 16.3% of the community members had antibodies signifying infection by human cysticercosis. This is the first ever study to assess the prevalence of human cysticercosis in the country and it has revealed the problem to be very high. This study can be valuable for deployment of appropriate intervention measures on human cysticercosis in the study area and extend to the entire country.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 77%

The Serological Survey for Human Cysticercosis Prevalence in Mbulu District, Tanzania

Mwang'onde¹,

Nkwengulila²,

Chacha³

2012

AID

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“…This study is an extension of the matched case-control study for epilepsy carried out by Nsengiyumva et al (2003), which found a statistically significant association between the presence of antibodies against T. solium cysticerci and epilepsy. This association persisted after correcting for other factors potentially responsible for epilepsy.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…This association persisted after correcting for other factors potentially responsible for epilepsy. In this study, 303 out of 324 sera from epileptic patients as well as 606 from the 648 sera from control persons originally tested by Nsengiyumva et al (2003) were equally tested by the Ag-ELISA. Significantly more (38.3%) people with epilepsy were positive in the Ag-ELISA than controls (20.0%).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Combined use of an antigen and antibody detection enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay for cysticercosis as tools in an epidemiological study of epilepsy in Burundi

Prado-Jean

Kanobana

Druet‐Cabanac

et al. 2007

Tropical Med Int Health

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Summaryobjective To evaluate the benefits of the detection of both circulating antibodies (Ab) and antigens (Ag) for the diagnosis of cysticercosis in people with epilepsy. Neurocysticercosis is a cause of neurological diseases world-wide, especially epilepsy. The clinical symptoms of neurocysticercosis are non-specific and diagnosis is often difficult.methods Serum samples were collected from subjects in a matched case-control study for epilepsy in the Kiremba area, Burundi, between March and April 2001 (epileptic cases ¼ 303; controls without epilepsy ¼ 606). The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used for the detection of antibodies (Ab-ELISA) and circulating Ag (Ag-ELISA).results The Ab-ELISA revealed 58.7% positivity in epilepsy cases and 31.4% in healthy controls; and Ag-ELISA revealed 38.3% positivity in epilepsy cases and 20.0% in controls. The matched odds ratios were 3.6 (95%CI: 2.5-4.9) for Ab-ELISA, and 2.9 (95%CI: 2.1-4.3) for Ag-ELISA.conclusion Both Ag-and Ab-ELISA detected a significantly higher number of seropositives among people with epilepsy than among controls. The risk of epilepsy was high in cases with a positive Ag-ELISA, although less important than in cases with positivity for Ab-ELISA. Dead or degenerating cysticerci appear to be more frequently associated with epilepsy than living cysts. The high number of people with circulating Ag of Taenia solium suggests that the study area is a focus of active transmission of the parasite.

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“…An unknown number of human zoonotic infections go undiagnosed, unrecorded, and thus untreated because of poor knowledge of easy-to-use diagnostic and screening tests. For example, recent studies have indicated that 30% to 50% of cases of epilepsy in endemic countries are associated with neurocysticercosis [24]. Many zoonoses cause febrile symptoms, but in sub-Saharan Africa clinicians often ascribe fever to malaria, although an estimated 50% to 80% of fevers in Africa are misdiagnosed as malaria [25].…”

Section: S349mentioning

confidence: 99%