Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Editor's preface
- PART I INTRODUCTION AND GENERAL PRINCIPLES
- PART II DISORDERS OF HIGHER FUNCTION
- PART III DISORDERS OF MOTOR CONTROL
- PART IV DISORDERS OF THE SPECIAL SENSES
- PART V DISORDERS OF SPINE AND SPINAL CORD
- PART VI DISORDERS OF BODY FUNCTION
- PART VII HEADACHE AND PAIN
- PART VIII NEUROMUSCULAR DISORDERS
- PART IX EPILEPSY
- PART X CEREBROVASCULAR DISORDERS
- PART XI NEOPLASTIC DISORDERS
- PART XII AUTOIMMUNE DISORDERS
- PART XIII DISORDERS OF MYELIN
- PART XIV INFECTIONS
- 101 Host responses in central nervous system infection
- 102 Viral diseases of the nervous system
- 103 Neurological manifestations of HIV infection
- 104 Neurological manifestations of HTLV-I infection
- 105 Clinical features of human prion diseases
- 106 Bacterial infections
- 107 Parasitic disease
- 108 Lyme disease
- 109 Neurosyphilis
- 110 Tuberculosis
- PART XV TRAUMA AND TOXIC DISORDERS
- PART XVI DEGENERATIVE DISORDERS
- PART XVII NEUROLOGICAL MANIFESTATIONS OF SYSTEMIC CONDITIONS
- Complete two-volume index
- Plate Section
107 - Parasitic disease
from PART XIV - INFECTIONS
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2016
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Editor's preface
- PART I INTRODUCTION AND GENERAL PRINCIPLES
- PART II DISORDERS OF HIGHER FUNCTION
- PART III DISORDERS OF MOTOR CONTROL
- PART IV DISORDERS OF THE SPECIAL SENSES
- PART V DISORDERS OF SPINE AND SPINAL CORD
- PART VI DISORDERS OF BODY FUNCTION
- PART VII HEADACHE AND PAIN
- PART VIII NEUROMUSCULAR DISORDERS
- PART IX EPILEPSY
- PART X CEREBROVASCULAR DISORDERS
- PART XI NEOPLASTIC DISORDERS
- PART XII AUTOIMMUNE DISORDERS
- PART XIII DISORDERS OF MYELIN
- PART XIV INFECTIONS
- 101 Host responses in central nervous system infection
- 102 Viral diseases of the nervous system
- 103 Neurological manifestations of HIV infection
- 104 Neurological manifestations of HTLV-I infection
- 105 Clinical features of human prion diseases
- 106 Bacterial infections
- 107 Parasitic disease
- 108 Lyme disease
- 109 Neurosyphilis
- 110 Tuberculosis
- PART XV TRAUMA AND TOXIC DISORDERS
- PART XVI DEGENERATIVE DISORDERS
- PART XVII NEUROLOGICAL MANIFESTATIONS OF SYSTEMIC CONDITIONS
- Complete two-volume index
- Plate Section
Summary
Neurocysticercosis
Life cycle of Taenia solium
The infection caused by the complex Taeniasis/cysticercosis in humans represents a rather peculiar phylogenetic encounter between Taenia solium, the most evolved cestode parasite (order cyclophyllidea, family taeniidae) (Willms, 1992) and human, the most evolved mammal (order primates, family hominidae). Both protagonists are endowed for survival with sophisticated biological mechanisms. In fact, rather than being another infection, cysticercosis is the transplant of the embryo of Taenia solium, into the tissues of the intermediate host (pork and humans) where it hatches in the intestine and is transported, by the blood stream, to tissues to become a larva. For the cycle to be completed a human must ingest, undisturbed and intact, a cysticercus whose size is between 0.5 and 1 cm diameter. The unique source of this larva is undercooked pork meat; it is truly amazing to observe that the cyst survives not only the cooking process but also the powerful masticatory movements and the fast intestinal passage. Once within the digestive tract, the metacestode (larva), measuring between 1 and 2 mm evaginates from the cyst and strongly attaches itself to the intestinal wall with the aid of its four suckers and a double chain of hooks. Two months later, a cestode measuring 2–4 metres long has developed; thereafter, every day, a few mature progglotides spontaneously detach, each containing several thousand fertilized eggs, which in turn will pollute areas with deficient sanitary installations and inadequate disposal of human feces. When contaminated food is ingested either by pigs or humans, cysticercosis develops in these new hosts. In a strict sense, only cysticercosis in pigs and taeniasis in humans are favourable for the perpetuation of the parasite; cysticercosis in humans is a failed attempt, since cannibalism would be the only possibility for a cysticercus in human muscle or brain to develop to the cestode stage in the intestine of another human. Nonetheless, neurocysticercosis (NCC) is the most frequent and severe parasitic disease of the nervous system of humans.
The presence of a whole cyst larva within the brain provokes a far more complicated immune response of rejection or tolerance than would be the case for other less complex infectious agents (Del Bruto et al., 1998).
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- Diseases of the Nervous SystemClinical Neuroscience and Therapeutic Principles, pp. 1745 - 1753Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2002
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