Epidemiology of neurocysticercosis in Brazil

Abstract

A revision of literature was done with the objective of tracing an epidemiologic profile of neurocysticercosis (NCC) in Brazil. The prevalence was 0.12-9% in autopsies. The frequency was 0.03-7.5% in clinical series and 0.68-5.2% in seroepidemiological studies. The disease corresponds to 0.08-2.5% of admissions to general hospitals. Patient origin was rural in 30-63% of cases. The most involved age range (64-100%) was 11 to 60 years, with a predominance (22-67%) between 21 and 40 years. The male sex was the most affected (51-80%). In the severe forms there was a predominance of urban origin (53-62%) and of the female sex (53-75%). The period of hospitalization ranges from 1 to 254 days and 33 to 50% of patients suffer 1.7 ± 1.4 admissions. The clinical picture was variable, with a predominance of epileptic syndrome (22-92%) and intracranial hypertension (19-89%). Psychiatric manifestations were associated in 9-23% of patients. Lethality was 0.29% in terms of all diseases in general and 4.8-25.9% in terms of neurologic diseases. The asymptomatic form was detected in 6% of patients in clinical serie and in 48.5% of case from autopsies. The racemose form and ventricular localization also was observed as asymptomatic form. Among the patients with cutaneous cysticercosis 65% of them showed neurologic manifestations.

Cysticercosis in epileptic patients of Mulungu do Morro Northeastern Brazil

“…In Brazil, the majority of studies about cysticercosis have been done in the South and Southeast regions and the knowledge of cysticercosis in Northeastern region has only been related to series in-patients 3,4,[10][11][12][13][14][15] . Meanwhile, the sanitary characteristics of this last region offer all the opportunities for the development of the TCC.…”

“…It is mostly characterized by seizures mainly in young adults. Several studies have established the importance of cysticercosis as one of the most important risk factors for seizures in Brazil [2][3][4] . Meanwhile, the majority of these studies constitute the reality of public hospitals but they do not define the epidemiological reality of an open population.…”

Neurocysticercosis: detection of IgG, IgA and IgE antibodies in cerebrospinal fluid, serum and saliva samples by ELISA with Taenia solium and Taenia crassiceps antigens

“…Its distribution is universal, being frequent in developing countries in Latin America, Africa, Asia and India [1][2][3][4][5] , and with cases reported in the United States due to the immigration of individuals coming from endemic areas 6 .…”

Caracterização das lesões por Cysticercus bovis, na inspeção post mortem de bovinos, pelos exames macroscópico, histopatológico e pela reação em cadeia da polimerase (PCR)

“…Considerando a maior prevalência de teníase por T. saginata (Dias et al 1991, Esteves et al 2005, bem como a similaridade morfológica entre T. saginata e T. asiatica (Eom & Rim, 1993, Fan et al 1995, que é considerada exótica no país, aliadas à endemicidade de cisticercose humana em muitos estados brasileiros (Machado et al 1988, Agapejev 1996, Takayanagui & Leite 2001, Mendes et al 2005 e às baixas taxas de ocorrência da cisticercose suína (Alves 2000, Flavigna-Guilherme et al 2006), ao contrário do que se observa em bovinos, torna-se imperiosa a necessidade de aprofundar as análises moleculares, com vistas ao esclarecimento de muitos pontos controversos que permanecem no universo cientíϐico, a começar com a possibilidade dos ovos de T. saginata causarem cisticercose no homem, conforme admitiram Santos (1996) e outros autores citados por Pardi et al (2001). Quanto à identiϐicação de C. bovis nos diversos sítios anatômicos estudados, mais uma vez destaca-se a importância de se tornar rotina nos matadouros, os exames de esôfago e ϐígado, pois os resultados encontrados na PCR conϐirmaram o diagnóstico ambulatorial feito nessas localizações.…”