Of pigs and people - WHO prepares to battle cysticercosis

摘要

What do pigs, people, and epilepsy have in common? Cysticercosis-a disease caused by the humble pork tapeworm Taenia solium-is the answer. Humble is perhaps the wrong epithet since the tapeworm's larvae can enter the brain and trigger severe epileptic seizures. Of the estimated 50 million people with epilepsy in the world today, 80% live in areas infested with T solium, and in about 30% of these people the worm is the cause of their epilepsy. Neurocysticercosis, as this form of cysticercosis is called, has become the commonest cause of acquired epilepsy in developing countries, according to WHO estimates. The infection, which can also cause chronic headache, meningitis, hydrocephalus, dementia, blindness, and even death, is particularly prevalent in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and southeast Asia. A recent ranking exercise, reported on July 1 by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, put T solium at the head of a list of top-ten food-borne parasites of "greatest global concern".