Serological Studies of Neurologic Helminthic Infections in Rural Areas of Southwest Cameroon: Toxocariasis, Cysticercosis and Paragonimiasis

Abstract

BackgroundBoth epilepsy and paragonimiasis had been known to be endemic in Southwest Cameroon. A total of 188 people (168 and 20 with and without symptoms confirmed by clinicians, respectively, 84.6% under 20 years old) were selected on a voluntary basis. Among 14 people (8.3%) with history of epilepsy, only one suffered from paragonimiasis. Therefore, we challenged to check antibody responses to highly specific diagnostic recombinant antigens for two other helminthic diseases, cysticercosis and toxocariasis, expected to be involved in neurological diseases. Soil-transmitted helminthic infections were also examined.Methodology/Principal FindingsFecal samples were collected exclusively from the 168 people. Eggs of Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura and hookworms were found from 56 (33.3%), 72 (42.8%), and 19 (11.3%) persons, respectively. Serology revealed that 61 (36.3%), 25 (14.9%) and 2 (1.2%) of 168 persons showed specific antibody responses to toxocariasis, paragonimiasis and cysticercosis, respectively. By contrast, 20 people without any symptoms as well as additional 20 people from Japan showed no antibody responses. Among the 14 persons with epilepsy, 5 persons were seropositive to the antigen specific to Toxocara, and one of them was simultaneously positive to the antigens of Paragonimus. The fact that 2 children with no history of epilepsy were serologically confirmed to have cysticercosis strongly suggests that serological survey for cysticercosis in children is expected to be useful for early detection of asymptomatic cysticercosis in endemic areas.Conclusions/SignificanceAmong persons surveyed, toxocariasis was more common than paragonimiasis, but cysticercosis was very rare. However, the fact that 2 children were serologically confirmed to have cysticercosis was very important, since it strongly suggests that serology for cysticercosis is useful and feasible for detection of asymptomatic cysticercotic children in endemic areas for the early treatment.

Preparation of Colloidal Gold Immunochromatographic Strip for Detection of Paragonimiasis skrjabini

“…In addition, people outside of Asia may also suffer from this disease [18]. The World Health Organization(WHO) estimates that about 20.7 million people are suffering from paragonimiasis [1].…”

A Protein Microarray for the Rapid Screening of Patients Suspected of Infection with Various Food-Borne Helminthiases

“…The 35 kDa protein spotted into protein chip could be used for the diagnosis of paragonimiasis, although further verification is needed to investigate if the protein is the same as the 35 kDa in P. westermani adult worm soluble antigens [63]. Moreover, it has been reported that the specificities using well-archived serum samples of sera-diagnosis for detection of different FBHs are ideal with positive percentages ranging from 83% to 100%, while the sensitivities ranged from 50 to 98% [16]–[18], [21], [28], [29], [64], [65]. In spite of the semi-purified proteins prepared for each parasites in the study, such as the 95 kDa protein of C. cellulosae , the 98 kDa protein of A. cantonensis , the 35 kDa protein of P. westermani , the 55 kDa protein of T. spiralis and the 90 kDa protein of Spirometra spp.…”

“…Immunoassays for antibody and molecular detection have proven useful for epidemiological studies of FBHs for a long time [16]–[18], [21], [28], [29], [31], [32]. However, each of these methods and techniques has limitations in that they could not detect multiple parasitic infections by the application of just one test.…”

Epilepsy care challenges in developing countries

“…Central nervous system infectious pathogens with epilepsyrelated sequelae are more common in developing countries and include bacterial meningitis and viral encephalitides, such as Japanese encephalitis [14], dengue [15], and chikungunya [16]. Common tropical pathogens with associated postinfectious seizure disorders include tuberculosis, HIV, toxocariasis [17], paragonimiasis [17] and schistosomiasis [18,19]. Neurocysticercosis continues to contribute substantially to the global burden of epilepsy [20][21][22].…”