Updating of medical pathology procedures concerning the diagnosis of cysticercosis - INAHTA Brief

Cysticercosis is the infection of humans by the larval stage of Taenia solium, a tapeworm of the class Cestoda, that parasitises the small intestine. It is found primarily in tropical and sub-tropical regions, though it persists in some European countries. The three most commonly encountered forms of cysticercosis are: i) subcutaneous and muscular cysticercosis, ii) neurocysticercosis and iii) ocular cysticercosis. According to the WHO, 30% of cases of epilepsy worldwide could be ascribed to neurocysticercosis. This would represent between 2.56 and 8.30 million cases of neurocysticercosis per 50,000 deaths per year.

Cysticercosis is difficult to diagnose due to the low specificity of the clinical signs and to the time to onset of symptoms after infection. Biological diagnosis is based primarily on the detection of antibodies in serum or cerebrospinal fluid