Cysticercosis (patient information)

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Cysticercosis

Overview

What are the symptoms?

What are the causes?

Diagnosis

When to seek urgent medical care?

Treatment options

Where to find medical care for Cysticercosis?

Prevention

What to expect (Outlook/Prognosis)?

Possible complications

Cysticercosis On the Web

Ongoing Trials at Clinical Trials.gov

Images of Cysticercosis

Videos on Cysticercosis

FDA on Cysticercosis

CDC on Cysticercosis

Cysticercosis in the news

Blogs on Cysticercosis

Directions to Hospitals Treating Cysticercosis

Risk calculators and risk factors for Cysticercosis

For the WikiDoc page for this topic, click here

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Overview

Cysticercosis is an infection by a parasite called Taenia solium (T. solium), a pork tapeworm that creates cysts in different areas in the body.

What are the symptoms?

Most often, the worms stay in muscles and do not cause symptoms.

Symptoms that do occur depend on where the infection is found in the body

What are the causes?

Cysticercosis is caused by swallowing eggs from T. solium, which are found in contaminated food. Autoinfection is when a person is already infected with adult T. solium, then swallows eggs following improper hand washing after a bowel movement.

Risk factors include eating pork, fruits, and vegetables contaminated with T. solium as a result of unhealthy cooking or food preparation. The disease can also be spread by contact with infected feces.

The disease is rare in the United States, but is common in many developing countries.

Diagnosis

Tests that may be done include:

When to seek urgent medical care?

If you have any symptoms of cysticercosis, contact your health care provider.

Treatment options

Treatment may involve:

If the cyst is in the eye or brain, steroids should be started a few days before other medicines to avoid problems caused by swelling during antiparasitic treatment. Not all patients benefit from antiparasitic treatment.

Sometimes surgery may be needed to remove the infected area.

Prevention

Avoid unclean foods, don't eat uncooked foods while traveling, and always wash fruits and vegetables well.

What to expect (Outlook/Prognosis)

The outlook is generally good, unless the lesion has caused blindness, heart failure, or brain damage. These are rare complications.

Possible complications


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