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There is an increasing interest in reducing the incidence of human neurocysticercosis, caused by infection with the larval stage of Taenia solium. Several intervention trials are currently assessing various options for control of T. solium transmission. A critical aspect of these trials will be the evaluation of whether the interventions have been successful. However, there is no consensus about the most appropriate or valuable methods that should be used. Here, we undertake a critical assessment of the diagnostic tests which are currently available for human T. solium taeniasis and human and porcine cysticercosis, as well as their suitability for evaluation of intervention trial outcomes. Suggestions are made about which of the measures that are available for evaluation of T. solium interventions would be most suitable, and which methodologies are the most appropriate given currently available technologies. Suggestions are also made in relation to the most urgent research needs in order to address deficiencies in current diagnostic methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taenia solium infections (taeniasis/cysticercosis) are a major scourge to most developing countries. Neurocysticercosis, the infection of the human nervous system by the cystic larvae of this parasite, has a protean array of clinical manifestations varying from entirely asymptomatic infections to aggressive, lethal courses. The diversity of clinical manifestations reflects a series of contributing factors which include the number, size and location of the invading parasites, and particularly the inflammatory response of the host. This manuscript reviews the different presentations of T. solium infections in the human host with a focus on the mechanisms or processes responsible for their clinical expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The life cycle of Taenia solium, the pork tapeworm, is continuously closed in many rural settings in developing countries when free roaming pigs ingest human stools containing T. solium eggs and develop cysticercosis, and humans ingest pork infected with cystic larvae and develop intestinal taeniasis, or may also accidentally acquire cysticercosis by faecal-oral contamination. Cysticercosis of the human nervous system, neurocysticercosis, is a major cause of seizures and other neurological morbidity in most of the world. The dynamics of exposure, infection and disease as well as the location of parasites result in a complex interaction which involves immune evasion mechanisms and involutive or progressive disease along time. Moreover, existing data are limited by the relative lack of animal models. This manuscript revises the available information on the immunology of human taeniasis and cysticercosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes the case of a 23-year-old male patient from Peru who experienced headaches associated with dizziness, blurred vision and seizures, and developed cysticercosis cyst in the medulla oblongata caused by Taenia solium. The diagnosis was confirmed after performing head computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and antibody testing. Antiepileptic drugs and antiparasitic agents are recommended for this patient.

Abstract: Taenia solium taeniasis/cysticercosis is one of few potentially eradicable infectious diseases and is the target of control programs in several countries. The larval stage of this zoonotic cestode invades the human brain and is responsible for most cases of adult-onset epilepsy in the world. Our current understanding of the life cycle implicates humans as the only definitive host and tapeworm carrier, and thus the sole source of infective eggs that are responsible for cysticercosis in both human and pigs through oral–faecal transmission. Here we review transmission dynamics of porcine cysticercosis including an alternative pig-to-pig route of transmission, previously not suspected to exist. Second-hand transmission of T. solium eggs could explain the overdispersed pattern of porcine cysticercosis, with few pigs harbouring heavy parasite burdens and many more harbouring small numbers of parasites. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]