Cysticercosis epidemiology and demographics
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Epidemiology and Demographics
Taenia solium is found worldwide. Because pigs are intermediate hosts of the parasite, completion of the life cycle occurs in regions where humans live in close contact with pigs and eat undercooked pork. Taeniasis and cysticercosis are very rare in Muslim countries. It is important to note that human cysticercosis is acquired by ingesting T. solium eggs shed in the feces of a human T. solium tapeworm carrier, and thus can occur in populations that neither eat pork nor share environments with pigs.
Cysticercosis is widely endemic in rural areas of Latin America, Asia, and Africa. During the 1980s, however, neurocysticercosis has been increasingly recognized in the United States through improved brain imaging by CAT and MRI. Most cases have been diagnosed in the western states among immigrants from areas with endemic cysticercosis. In addition, from 1988 through 1990, 7.3% of 138 cases reported to the Los Angeles Department of Health Services were acquired locally (i.e., in patients born in the United States who had not traveled to foreign countries with endemic cysticercosis). Epidemiologic investigation of these cases identified as possible sources of infection household contact with persons who had imported tapeworm infections.
Prevalence
Traditionally considered an exotic disease, this infection now accounts for up to 2% of neurologic/neurosurgical admissions in southern California and more than 1,000 cases per year in the United States