Case Report: Neurocysticercosis Acquired in Australia

Abstract

Neurocysticercosis (NCC) is a disease caused by infection of the central nervous system with the larval stage of the tapeworm Taenia solium. This disease is endemic in many parts of the world, including Africa, Asia, and Latin America, where animal husbandry practices are common such that pigs reared for human consumption ingest feces from humans infected with T. solium. Neurocysticercosis is rarely acquired in economically affluent regions, including North America, Central Europe, Japan, and Australasia, and in countries where pork consumption is discouraged by religious or social practices. In these countries, NCC is usually diagnosed in immigrants or returning travelers who have spent time in endemic regions. Here, we report a case of NCC in a 25-year-old woman presenting with worsening visual symptoms in association with headache, diagnosed previously as a migraine with visual aura. This person had always lived in Australia and had never traveled overseas to a country endemic for T. solium. The unusual features of the clinical presentation and epidemiology are highlighted to raise physicians' awareness that attention needs to be paid to the risk of autochthonous infection occurring in non-endemic countries.

A Large Case Series of Neurocysticercosis in Kuwait, a Nonendemic Arabian Gulf Country in the Middle East Region

“…The growing number of immigrants from endemic areas, increased tourism, and international business affairs have rendered people from nonendemic areas more susceptible to acquiring taeniasis and cysticercosis [11]. Human cysticercosis is increasingly recognized in the developed and industrialized nonendemic countries of Western Europe, North America, and Australia likely due to increased pork consumption, immigration, and international travel [7,[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. On the other hand, taeniasis/cysticercosis is more common in Eastern Europe, where regulatory inspections and oversight are compromised due to various socioeconomic and political developments [21].…”

Amplification of cestode DNA from the peri-anal region of naturally infected foxes by PCR and LAMP: proof of concept for a potential sampling strategy for diagnosing human taeniosis

“…T. solium is endemic in low-income countries, particularly in Asia, Africa and Latin America, where sanitation provision is inadequate and where free-ranging pigs have access to human faeces (Donadeu et al 2016 ). Due to the migration of infected humans from endemic areas, T. solium has sporadically been reported in Europe, Australia and the USA (Schantz et al 1998 ; Del Brutto and Garcia 2012 ; Gabriel et al 2015 ; Forster et al 2020 ). Taeniosis caused by T. solium may remain unnoticed by carriers as it is characterised by the passive discharge of proglottids in the stool (Pawlowski and Schultz 1972 ; Garcia et al 2003 ).…”