Cysticercosis is a parasitic disease caused by ingesting water or food such as vegetables, fruits or vegetables that are contaminated with eggs of a specific type of tapeworm, Taenia solium. People who have this tapeworm in their intestines may not develop cysticercosis, but they do release eggs in their feces that can contaminate vegetables or meat, causing illness in others.
After three days of consuming tapeworm eggs, they pass from the intestine to the bloodstream and lodge in tissues such as muscles, heart, eyes or brain, forming larvae, called cysticercosis, which can reach the nervous system and cause brain cysticercosis or neurocysticercosis..
- Taeniasis and cysticercosis are completely different diseases.
- But caused by the same type of parasite.
- Taenia sp.
- Taenia solium is the tapeworm that is normally present in pork.
- While Taenia saginata can be found in beef.
- These two types cause teniase.
- But only T.
- Eggs.
- The sol alone causes cysticercosis.
Tapeworm is acquired by ingesting undercoated meat containing the larva, which in the intestine becomes adult and causes intestinal symptoms, in addition to the reproduction and release of eggs; in cysticercosis, however, the person ingests Taenia solium eggs that can rupture in the person’s body, with the release of the larvae, known as cysticercus, that reaches the bloodstream and reaches various parts of the body, such as muscles, heart, eyes and brain, for example.
Symptoms of cysticercosis vary depending on the affected site, with
Diagnosis of cysticercosis may be made with imaging tests such as x-rays, tomography, ultrasound, or MRI, as well as cerebrospinal fluid testing in the brain or blood tests.
The life cycle of cysticercosis can be shown as follows:
Cysticercosis is contracted by humans by ingesting water or food contaminated with pork faeces containing tapeworm eggs. Eggs, approximately 3 days after being ingested, rupture and release larvae that pass from the intestine to the bloodstream, where they circulate through the body and lodge in tissues such as the brain, liver, muscles or heart, which cause human cysticercosis.
Tapeworm eggs can be released by a person’s faeces with erias and can contaminate soil, water or food that can then be consumed by humans, pigs or oxen.Learn more about teniase and how to distinguish between these two diseases.
Treatment of cysticercosis is usually done with medicines such as praziquantel, dexamethasone and albendazole, for example; In addition, the use of anticonvulsants may be necessary to prevent seizures, as well as corticosteroids or surgery to remove tapeworm larvae, depending on the individual’s health and severity of the disease.