Case: 22 year old male recently migrated from mexico, presented with seizure to ER. Following radiological imaging obtained. Your diagnosis?
Answer: Neurocysticercosis
Cysticercosis is a parasitic infection that results from ingestion of eggs from the adult tapeworm, Taenia solium (T. solium). When cysticercosis involves the central nervous system, it is called neurocysticercosis. Neurocysticercosis is a leading parasitic infection of the brain and of epilepsy in the developing world. Because millions of people have immigrated to the United States from Latin America in recent years, neurocysticercosis has become an increasingly important cause of seizures in the United States.
Neurocysticercosis is acquired through consumption of food contaminated with feces of a T. solium carrier (i.e., through fecal–oral contract). Eggs of the tapeworm are shed in stool and contaminate food through poor hygiene. When these eggs are ingested and exposed to gastric acid in the human stomach, they lose their protective capsule and turn into larval cysts, called oncospheres. Oncospheres cross the gastrointestinal tract and migrate via the vascular system to the brain, muscle, eyes, and other structures. Once in the brain, the larval cysts (cysticerci) initially generate a minimal immune response and may remain in the brain as viable cysts for years.
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