Cysticercosis epidemiology and demographics

Cysticercosis is more prevalent in underdeveloped countries in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia, especially in rural areas where humans are in direct contact with pigs and sanitary conditions, are not optimum.

• It is estimated that 50 million human have cysticercosis (may be an underestimate due to the high number of asymptomatic cases).^[1]

• Cysticercosis is widely endemic in rural areas of Latin America, Asia, and Africa. In these countries, prevalence is highest in rural areas where humans are in close contact with pigs and sanitary conditions are poor.

• Prevalence is low in areas inhabited by Muslims and Jews (who do not eat pork due to religious beliefs), proving the importance of pigs as an intermediate host.

• During the 1980s, however, neurocysticercosis has been increasingly recognized in the United States through improved brain imaging by CT and MRI. Most cases have been diagnosed in the western states among immigrants from areas with endemic cysticercosis. In addition, from 1988 through 1990, 7.3% of 138 cases reported to the Los Angeles Department of Health Services were acquired locally (i.e., in patients born in the United States who had not traveled to foreign countries with endemic cysticercosis). Epidemiologic investigation of these cases identified as possible sources of infection household contact with persons who had imported tapeworm infections.

• A subtype might be prevalent in certain areas regardless of the total prevalence of the disease. For example, cutaneous cysticercosis is more prevalent in India than it is in Latin America despite the fact that cysticercosis is generally more prevalent in Latin America.

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