Distribution and Potential Indicators of Hospitalized Cases of Neurocysticercosis and Epilepsy in Ecuador from 1996 to 2008

Ron, Lenin; Coral-Almeida, Marco; Gabriël, Sarah; Benítez‐Ortiz, Washington; Saegerman, Claude; Dorny, Pierre; Berkvens, Dirk; Abatih, Emmanuel

doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0004236

Cited by 18 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Furthermore, in Africa, ignorance surrounding the presence, magnitude and impacts of the parasite by stakeholders and political authorities have led to the disease being often unrecognized and under reported (Assana et al, 2013;WHO 2016a). This is further complicated by scarcity of information on the disease due to lack of overt disease manifestation in many cases in both humans and pigs (Fleury et al, 2015;Ron-Garrido et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overview of Taenia solium cysticercosis in West Africa

et al. 2019

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Human and porcine cysticercosis is endemic in West Africa, where epilepsy is relatively common, but rarely reported due to fear of stigmatization. Neurocysticercosis, caused by Taenia solium, tends to affect the poor in developing countries and control is hampered by inadequate infrastructure and financial resources coupled with lack of adequate information about its significance and distribution. The risk factors for human cysticercosis are closely associated with the characteristics of smallholder or backyard pig farming systems prevalent in this region. Poverty, ignorance and lack of political will militate against successful eradication, while tools for effective diagnosis, prevention and treatment, including vaccines for pigs, are not yet available in many countries. Cysticercosis was targeted for control by The World Health Organization global plan for 2008-2015; however, measures for control are yet to be undertaken in a coordinated manner in West Africa. Diagnostic tools, including neuroimaging facilities, should be strategically situated and made accessible to rural populations in West Africa. Community education in combination with a multipronged approach consisting of vaccination of pigs using TSOL18 vaccine and treatment with oxfendazole along with mass chemotherapy of humans with praziquantel could eliminate taeniasis and should be considered in the region. Indepth and extensive epidemiological studies are required in the region in order to fully elucidate the prevalence of T. solium and to support more coordinated and effective control of human and porcine cysticercosis.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overview of Taenia solium cysticercosis in West Africa

et al. 2019

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“…Finally, that the high rates of comorbidity of NCC and epilepsy are coincidental due to high concurrent prevalence rates of the two conditions, which occur independently from one another, in certain countries [20, 21]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The causal relationship between neurocysticercosis infection and the development of epilepsy - a systematic review

Gripper

Welburn

2017

Infect Dis Poverty

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BackgroundNeurocysticercosis (NCC) is a parasitic infection of the human central nervous system, the most common form of which involves infection of the brain parenchyma with the larval form of the Taenia solium tapeworm. A causal relationship between such an NCC infection and the development of epilepsy in infected individuals is acknowledged, in part supported by high levels of comorbidity in endemic countries worldwide.MethodsThis study undertook a systematic review and critical analysis of the NCC-epilepsy relationship with the primary objective of quantifying the risk of developing epilepsy following NCC infection. A secondary aim was to analyse the proportions of NCC-associated epilepsy within different populations. Significant emphasis was placed on the importance of neuroimaging (CT or MRI) availability and use of clear guidelines for epilepsy diagnosis, in order to avoid overestimations of prevalence rates of either condition; a limitation identified in several previous studies.ResultsA common odds ratio of 2.76 was identified from meta-analysis of case-control studies, indicating that an individual infected with NCC has almost a three times higher risk of developing epilepsy than an uninfected individual. Furthermore, meta-analysis of studies identified a common proportion of 31.54% of epilepsy cases associated with NCC infection which suggests that amongst epileptic populations in at risk countries, approximately one-third may be associated with NCC infection.ConclusionA significant finding was the lack of good clinical data to enable accurate determination of a causal relationship. Even studies that were included had noticeable limitations, including a general lack of consistency in diagnostics, and lack of accurate epidemiological data. This review highlights a need for consistency in research in this field. In the absence of reliable estimates of its global burden, NCC will remain of low priority in the eyes of funding agencies - a truly neglected disease.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40249-017-0245-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…The spatial analysis was conducted in SATSCAN v9.6 (Last version March 2018) [48], it searched, tested for significance and identified approximate locations of areas with an increased incidence rate for the occurrence of NCC and four NDPAN, following the methodology described by Ron-Garrido et al [28] and Kulldorff [46] with small modifications for purely spatial analysis. Briefly, the purely spatial analysis used the number of reported cases for each NDPAN distributed by canton together with the total population of the canton and the spatial coordinates of each canton, then, a Poisson distribution was used to compare the number of cases in the scanned locations.…”

Section: Spatial Analysis and Statistical Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies in Ecuador have shown the heterogeneity of the geographical distribution of NCC cases within the country, which should be taken into account in order to avoid over/ underestimation of the real impact of NCC, as well as, for other neglected tropical diseases. Spatial analysis of the distribution of NCC cases and other potentially associated neurological disorders could bring more evidence to the discussion of the role of NCC in the occurrence of CNS disorders in T. solium endemic regions [28].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the burden and spatial distribution of Taenia solium human neurocysticercosis in Ecuador (2013–2017)

et al. 2020

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Background Estimating the burden of neglected tropical diseases is a valuable tool to support policymakers in the resource allocation for control and elimination of these diseases. Spatial analysis allows to identify the geographical distribution patterns of infectious and parasitic diseases within a country and allows to assess their possible correlation with other health disorders. Despite being neurocysticercosis (NCC) considered as the most important parasitic disease of the nervous system, few efforts have been addressed to assess the real burden of NCC in endemic countries, to date, there are no studies estimating the burden of NCC in South America. In this study we aimed to use the Disability Adjust Life Years (DALY) and spatial indicators as tools to measure the impact of human neurocysticercosis in Ecuador between 2013 and 2017. Methods Mortality, morbidity and spatial data from the national agency of statistics were used to estimate the burden of disease of NCC during a five-year period (2013-2017). NCC cases and its two main sequelae, epilepsy and migraine headache, were stratified by sex and age group to calculate the DALY associated to NCC using the DALY package in R. SATSCAN software was used to assess spatial clusters of NCC and its possible neurological sequelae as epilepsy, status epilepticus, migraine and hydrocephalus.

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Distribution and Potential Indicators of Hospitalized Cases of Neurocysticercosis and Epilepsy in Ecuador from 1996 to 2008

Cited by 18 publications

References 45 publications

Overview of Taenia solium cysticercosis in West Africa

Overview of Taenia solium cysticercosis in West Africa

The causal relationship between neurocysticercosis infection and the development of epilepsy - a systematic review

Assessing the burden and spatial distribution of Taenia solium human neurocysticercosis in Ecuador (2013–2017)

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