Neurocysticercosis and epilepsy

Neurocysticercosis (NCC) is the most common parasitic disease of the central nervous system that affects thousands of people all over the world, mainly in Latin America (Mexico, Central America, equatorial zone, and Brazil), Asia (India and China), and Africa. Also because of the high immigration rates from endemic to nonendemic areas, NCC is now commonly seen in countries that were previously free of the disease. Although NCC can cause almost any neurological symptom, and the most common clinical manifestations are epilepsy and acute symptomatic seizures. NCC is the leading cause of epilepsy in the developing world. Epileptogenesis in NCC can be attributed to multiple causes, mostly of a direct or indirect effects of inflammation, gliosis, gene, and predilection for the cyst to travel to the frontal and temporal lobe. Recent community intervention studies show that educational and public health measures can reduce the incidence and prevalence of active epilepsy as well as preventable epilepsy from NCC in endemic populations.