Serological screening for cysticercosis in mentally altered individuals

• Published in: Tropical medicine & international health Vol. 7; no. 6; pp. 532 - 538
• Main Authors: Sanzón, Fernando, Osorio, Ana M., Morales, José P., Isaza, Rodrigo, Cardona, Edgar, Moncayo, Luis C., Villota, Guido E., Zapata, Olga T., Palacio, Carlos A., Arbeláez, María P., Restrepo, Blanca I.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford UK Blackwell Science Ltd 01.06.2002; Blackwell Science
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Animals; Antibodies, Helminth - isolation & purification; Bacterial diseases; Bacterial diseases of the genital system; Biological and medical sciences; Case-Control Studies; Colombia; Cysticercosis; Diseases caused by cestodes; education level; Educational Status; Female; Helminthic diseases; Hospitals, Psychiatric; Human bacterial diseases; Humans; Infectious diseases; Male; Medical sciences; mental alteration; Mental Disorders - classification; Mental Disorders - etiology; Middle Aged; neurocysticercosis; Neurocysticercosis - blood; Neurocysticercosis - complications; Parasitic diseases; psychiatric; psychosis; seizures; serology; Taenia; Tropical medicine; South America; Colombia; America; Human; Cysticercosis; Developmental disorder; Serology; Parasitosis; Medical screening; Helminthiasis; Mental retardation; Statistical study; Cestode disease; Infection; Immunological investigation; Intellectual deficiency
• ISSN: 1360-2276; 1365-3156
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-3156.2002.00886.x

The parasitic infection neurocysticercosis may give rise to a variety of psychiatric manifestations that resemble, but are different from, primary psychiatric disorders. The aim of this study was to determine if among individuals from a neurocysticercosis‐endemic area of Colombia who apparently had a psychiatric manifestation with associated neurological finding (`cases'), some could have been infected with Taenia solium cysticerci. This case–control study was done in individuals hospitalized in two mental institutions. The control‐1 individuals were those classified with primary psychiatric disease, and the control‐2 group consisted of healthy, non‐hospitalized individuals. A serological test for cysticercosis was positive in 5/96 (5.1%) cases, 4/153 (2.6%) psychiatric controls, and 5/246 (2%) healthy controls. The data analysis indicated a weak association between the cases and a positive serology for neurocysticercosis (odds ratio > 2; P > 0.05). The lower education level of the cases influenced this association.