Taenia Solium - Epidemiology

Epidemiology

T. solium is found worldwide, but is more common in cosmopolitan areas. Because pigs are intermediate hosts of the parasite, completion of the life cycle occurs in regions where humans live in close contact with pigs and eat undercooked pork. Cysticercosis is often seen in areas where poor hygiene allows for contamination of food, soil or water supplies. Prevalence rates in the United States have shown immigrants from Mexico, Central and South America and Southeast Asia account for most of the domestic cases of cysticercosis. Taeniasis and cysticercosis are very rare in predominantly Muslim countries, as Islam forbids the consumption of pork. Human cysticercosis is acquired by ingesting T. solium eggs shed in the feces of a human tapeworm carrier via gravid proglottids, so can occur in populations that neither eat pork nor share environments with pigs, although the completion of the life cycle can occur only where humans live in close contact with pigs and eat pork.

In 1990 and 1991, four unrelated members of an Orthodox Jewish community in New York City developed recurrent seizures and brain lesions, which were found to have been caused by T. solium. In keeping with their religion, none of the patients ate pork; additionally, none had any history of recent foreign travel. Several immediate family members of these four patients with seizures were found to have cysticercus antibodies. The families of the four patients had all employed housekeepers from Latin American countries, and one of the housekeepers tested positive for cysticercus antibodies, leading to the conclusion that the housekeepers were the most likely source of the infections.

Read more about this topic:  Taenia Solium