In poor remote settings where the disease is present, epilepsy is difficult to diagnose and treat, and causes major stigma, especially in girls and women (where it is commonly associated to witchcraft).Ĭysticercosis mainly affects the health and livelihoods of subsistence farming communities in developing countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America. Neurocysticercosis is the most frequent preventable cause of epilepsy worldwide, and is estimated to cause 30% of all epilepsy cases in countries where the parasite is endemic. In specific communities the association between neurocysticercosisĪnd epilepsy can be up to 70%. Symptoms include severe headache, blindness, convulsions and epileptic seizures, and can be fatal. When cysts develop in the brain, the condition is referred to as neurocysticercosis. The larvae (cysticerci) may develop in the muscles, skin, eyes and the central nervous system. Human cysticercosis can result in devastating effects on human health. solium eggs may also infect humans if they are ingested by a person (via the fecal-oral route, or by ingesting contaminated food or water), causing infection with the larval parasite in the tissues (human cysticercosis). Tapeworm eggs passed in the faeces with the tapeworm carrier are infectiveįor pigs. Infection with the tapeworm causes few clinical symptoms. solium tapeworm occurs when a person eats raw or undercooked, infected pork. Therefore, this fact sheet refers to the transmission and health impacts of T. asiatica when they consume infected beef meat or pig liver tissue, respectively, which has not been adequately cooked, but taeniasis due to T. Taeniasis is an intestinal infection caused by 3 species of tapeworm: Taenia solium (pork tapeworm), Taenia saginata (beef tapeworm) and Taenia asiatica.