Cysticercosis, or neurocysticercosis, is the most common parasitic infestation of the central nervous system worldwide. Humans develop cysticercosis when they ingest eggs or larvae of the tapeworm Taenia solium. The eggs and larvae are usually found in fecally-contaminated water and undercooked pork. The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (most commonly known by the abbreviation ICD) provides codes to classify diseases and a wide variety of signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances and external causes of injury or disease. ... The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision (ICD-10) is a coding of diseases and signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances and external causes of injury or diseases, as classified by the World Health Organization (WHO). ... // A00-A79 - Bacterial infections, and other intestinal infectious diseases, and STDs (A00-A09) Intestinal infectious diseases (A00) Cholera (A01) Typhoid and paratyphoid fevers (A010) Typhoid fever (A02) Other Salmonella infections (A03) Shigellosis (A04) Other bacterial intestinal infections (A040) Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli infection (A045) Campylobacter enteritis (A046) Enteritis due to Yersinia... The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (most commonly known by the abbreviation ICD) provides codes to classify diseases and a wide variety of signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances and external causes of injury or disease. ... The following is a list of codes for International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. ... The Disease Bold textDatabase is a free website that provides information about the relationships between medical conditions, symptoms, and medications. ... MedlinePlus (medlineplus. ... eMedicine is an online clinical medical knowledge base that was founded in 1996. ... Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) is a huge controlled vocabulary (or metadata system) for the purpose of indexing journal articles and books in the life sciences. ... A parasite is an organism that spends a significant portion of its life in or on the living tissue of a host organism and which causes harm to the host without immediately killing it. ... A diagram showing the CNS: 1. ... In most birds and reptiles, an egg (Latin ovum) is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum. ... Larvae are the plural of larva, juvenile form of animals with indirect development. ... Orders Subclass Cestodaria Amphilinidea Gyrocotylidea Subclass Eucestoda Aporidea Caryophyllidea Cyclophyllidea Diphyllidea Lecanicephalidea Litobothridea Nippotaeniidea Proteocephalidea Pseudophyllidea Spathebothriidea Tetraphyllidea Trypanorhyncha In biology, Cestoda is the class of parasitic flatworms, called cestodes or tapeworms, that live in the digestive tract of vertebrates as adults and often in the bodies of various animals... Stained proglottid. ...

Humans are the definitive host for T. solium, which means that the adult tapeworms are found only in the intestine of humans. It is possible for a human to be infested by T. solium (taeniasis) without having cysticercosis; in this case the tapeworm lives in the jejunum and regularly lays its eggs. These eggs do not have the capacity to invade tissue, and they are excreted with the rest of that person's feces. In areas of poor sanitation, swine (and humans) ingest the eggs, which may contaminate the water supply. Categories: Possible copyright violations ... Diagram of the Human Intestine In anatomy of the digestive system, the jejunum is the central of the three divisions of the small intestine and lies between the duodenum and the ileum. ...

The eggs are capable of hatching once ingested. The larvae of T. solium are able to invade tissue, and enter the bloodstream. From there, they are able to spread to many organs (skeletal muscle, heart, eye, brain, spinal cord) and form cysts in tissue called cysticerci. They cannot grow into adult worms in this state, and remain indefinitely encapsulated in tissue. Cysticerci are commonly found at autopsy in asymptomatic inhabitants of endemic areas. A top-down view of skeletal muscle Skeletal muscle is a type of striated muscle, usually attached to the skeleton. ... The heart and lungs, from an older edition of Grays Anatomy. ... For other uses, see Eye (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Brain (disambiguation). ... The Spinal cord nested in the vertebral column. ...

Humans may ingest the eggs or larvae directly from contact with fecally contaminated food or water (common). In rural areas where cysticercosis is common, pigs ingest the eggs by the same means. When pigs eat the eggs, the larvae hatch and disseminate and form cysticerci in the striated muscle, which can be the infective source of cysticercosis for humans who later consume that pork. This describes why swine are the intermediate host of T. solium: pigs eat the eggs laid by the tapeworms that live in the gut of infested humans.

Humans with taeniasis contract cysticercosis in the same manner; they are also capable of autoinfection by vomiting. In the latter case, eggs laid by their infesting tapeworm are pushed back into the stomach. When these eggs pass back into intestines, the larvae hatch and the infestation proceeds as usual. Categories: Possible copyright violations ... Heaving redirects here. ...

See also Taenia solium and Taenia saginata. Stained proglottid. ... Binomial name Taenia saginata Goeze, 1782 Taenia saginata proglottid stained to show uterine branches. ...

Symptoms

In muscles, cysts cause painless swelling or create nodules under the skin. If cysts form in the eye, they can impair vision by floating in the eye and can cause blindness by causing swelling and detachment of the retina. Heart lesions can lead to abnormal rhythms or heart failure (rare). The most dangerous symptoms are a result of encystment in the central nervous system. Edema (BE: oedema, formerly known as dropsy) is swelling of any organ or tissue due to accumulation of excess fluid. ... This article is about the visual condition. ... Human eye cross-sectional view. ... A cardiac arrhythmia, also called cardiac dysrhythmia, is a disturbance in the regular rhythm of the heartbeat. ... A diagram showing the CNS: 1. ...

According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Division of Parasitic Diseases, in neurocysticercosis (cysticercosis of the brain), "seizures, and headaches are the most common symptoms. However, confusion, lack of attention to people and surroundings, difficulty with balance, hydrocephalus (compression of the brain tissue due to obstruction of cerebrospinal fluid flow) may also occur." Often, there are few symptoms until the parasite dies.^[1] When the parasite dies, the host's immune system detects the worm's remains and attacks them, causing swelling and scarring. This is what causes most of the symptoms. Spinal cord lesions can lead to partial loss of motor control, weakness, and even paralysis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, is recognized as the leading United States agency for protecting the public health and safety of people. ... This article is about epileptic seizures. ... A headache (cephalgia in medical terminology) is a condition of pain in the head; sometimes neck or upper back pain may also be interpreted as a headache. ... A scanning electron microscope image of a single neutrophil (yellow), engulfing anthrax bacteria (orange). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Motor control is the field of Neuroscience that studies neuronal mechanisms of movements. ... Weakness can mean: The opposite of strength Weakness (medical) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Paralysed redirects here. ...

When death occurs, it is most often due to involvement of the brain resulting in hydrocephalus, cerebral edema, cerebral compression, or epileptic seizures.^[2] Cerebral edema (cerebral oedema in British English) is an excess accumulation of water in the intra- and/or extracellular spaces of the brain. ... This article is about the neurological disorder as it affects humans. ...

Diagnosis

Neurocysticercosis is difficult to diagnose in its early stage and may be apparent only when the first neurological symptoms start, or when a CT scan, or an MRI of the brain is performed for other reasons. Antibody tests or a biopsy of the affected area may be necessary to complete the diagnosis. In general, diagnosis (plural diagnoses) has two distinct dictionary definitions. ... CAT apparatus in a hospital Computed axial tomography (CAT), computer-assisted tomography, computed tomography, CT, or body section roentgenography is the process of using digital processing to generate a three-dimensional image of the internals of an object from a large series of two-dimensional X-ray images taken around... The mri are a fictional alien species in the Faded Sun Trilogy of C.J. Cherryh. ... For other uses, see Brain (disambiguation). ... Each antibody binds to a specific antigen; an interaction similar to a lock and key. ... Brain biopsy A biopsy (in Greek: bios = life and opsy = look/appearance) is a medical test involving the removal of cells or tissues for examination. ...

Treatment

The anti-parasitic drugs Praziquantel and Albendazole may be used to treat neurocysticercosis. Steroid anti-inflammatory medication is also often used in conjunction to reduce the swelling (brain edema) that results from immune system attacks on dead worms. It is still controversial whether patients benefit from treatment, because live cysticerci do not provoke seizures; only dead or dying parasites invoke an inflammatory response and seizures. In theory, therefore, treating a patient with drugs that kill living parasites can induce seizures in someone who is otherwise well and seizure-free; likewise, treating someone with seizures may not have any effect on outcome as the parasites are already dead and no improvement can be expected. A meta-analysis of 11 trials suggest that is that there is probably some small benefit to patients who have active lesions, but no benefit to those with only dead or inactive lesions.^[3] Praziquantel (Biltricide) is an anthelmintic effective against flatworms. ... Albendazole marketed as Albenza or Zentel, is indicated for the treatment of a variety of work infestations. ... This article is about the chemical family of steroids. ... Edema (BE: oedema, formerly known as dropsy) is swelling of any organ or tissue due to accumulation of excess fluid. ... A meta-analysis is a statistical practice of combining the results of a number of studies. ...

If the cyst is in certain locations, such as the eye or the brain, steroids may be started a few days before the antiparasitic, in order to avoid problems caused by swelling. If swelling and immune response are not controlled, the treatment itself can be lethal, so the medication is given in low dosages over several days. Sometimes surgery may be needed to remove the infected area or cysts, but this may be impossible when they are located in areas of difficult or dangerous surgical access. Also, some medications may treat symptoms, such as seizures or irregular heartbeat without affecting the worms.

If the cysticerci have calcified in the brain, or if there is only one lesion, treatment is not considered beneficial.^[1] Dystrophic calcification is the mineralization of soft tissue without a systemic mineral imbalance. ...

Prevention

It is possible to avoid infection with T. solium by avoiding undercooked pork and food and water contaminated with human feces. Extra care should be taken in places with poor hygiene or meat inspection laws. Freezing infested pork for a prolonged period will also kill cysticerci. The United States Meat Inspection Act of 1906 authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to order meat inspections and condemn any meat product found unfit for human consumption. ...

If a person is already infected with T. solium, they can avoid cysticercosis by treating the infection in the small intestine early, by not ingesting their own feces, and by not vomiting, as this brings eggs to the stomach so they form cysticerci in the small intestine.

References in Popular Culture

• Pilot (House)

Pilot is the first episode of the television series House, which premiered on the FOX network on November 16, 2004. ...

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Division of Parasitic Diseases fact sheet
2. ^ Sorvillo FJ, DeGiorgio C, Waterman SH (2007). "Deaths from cysticercosis, United States". Emerg Infect Dis 13 (2): 230–5. 
3. ^ Del Brutto OH, Roos KL, Coffey CS, Garcia HH (2006). "Meta-analysis: Cysticidal drugs for neurocysticercosis: albendazole and praziquantel". Ann Intern Med 145 (1): 43–51. PMID 16818928.