A serological study of cysticercosis in patients with HIV

Abstract

Neurocysticercosis (NCC) has attained the importance of one of the most common cause of focal brain lesions in patients infected with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). Adequate data regarding the rate of this co-infection is lacking. Therefore, the present study was carried out to determine the prevalence of cysticercosis among HIV patients residing in Puducherry or its neighboring districts of Tamil Nadu State, India. A total of one hundred blood samples were collected from HIV seropositive cases visiting JIPMER hospital, Puducherry, between June 2007 and May 2008. Enzyme immunotransfer blot (EITB) and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were used to demonstrate anti- T. solium larval stage antibodies and Co-agglutination (Co-A) test was used to detect T. solium larval stage antigens in sera. Two HIV seropositive cases were found positive for anti-T. solium larval stage antibody by EITB and four were positive by ELISA. Only one sample was positive by both EITB and ELISA. No serum sample was found positive for T. solium larval stage antigen by Co-A test. The overall seropositivity detected by all the methods was 5% in this study group. The accurate clinical diagnosis of NCC in HIV is difficult due to deranged immunological parameters in the HIV infected patients. The results of this study provides important data on the prevalence of cysticercosis in HIV positive patients in Puducherry and neighboring areas which was previously unknown. This study will also increase awareness among physicians and public health agencies about T. solium cysticercosis in the selected group.

Human Neurocysticercosis: Comparison of Different Diagnostic Tests Using Cerebrospinal Fluid

“…In our study, although EITB exhibited higher specificity than the Ab-ELISA (100% versus 90%, respectively) and lower sensitivity (81% versus 90.1%, respectively), these differences were not statistically significant. Our result differs from those of some published studies (34,38), although others are in agreement (11,32). Since our Ab-ELISA is a simpler and less expensive tool than EITB for the immunological diagnosis of NC in the CSF, it seems more advisable for use in poor countries where NC is endemic, in order to consolidate the diagnosis of NC.…”

Association between Taenia solium infection and HIV/AIDS in northern Tanzania: a matched cross sectional-study

“…This correlates with findings of other studies that proposed that around 50% of NCC cases remain asymptomatic [4, 56]. The two reported neurological symptoms/signs were headaches and epilepsy, which is consistent with the main neurological presentations of NCC [2–4].…”

“…In a study conducted in India, of 100 HIV+ serum samples two (2%) were detected with CC-Ab by EITB [56]. In Mexico, only 1.1% of NCC have been reported in a study among HIV/AIDS cases, compared with 2.4% in control autopsies [33].…”

Epilepsy and Neurocysticercosis in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…Observations from South Africa indicate that co-infection is high [84,85]. Conversely, studies from India and Mexico have shown that seroprevalence of Taenia solium cysticercosis in patients with HIV/AIDS is lower than in the non-HIV/AIDS population, which may point to an impaired immunoreaction with unreliable detection of Taenia solium cysticercosis antibodies [86,87]. The fact of unreliable Taenia solium cysticercosis serodiagnosis could present a substantial problem in the HIV/AIDS population with focal neurological signs in whom tuberculous meningitis/tuberculoma and toxoplasmosis, two diseases with different therapeutic approaches, represent the most important differential diagnoses.…”