A Better Way to Diagnose Cystercosis

A lot of advancements in diagnostic technology have visited our century. These new means of diagnoses have brought hope particularly to poor communities where neglected tropical diseases run amok, ignored both by the health authorities tasked by the people to protect them and the profit-oriented pharmaceuticals whose manufacturing capabilities generation of effective drugs against these disease are highly dependent. Neurocystercosis is merely one of these many neglected diseases.

WHAT happened to Cebu City Traffic Operations Management chief Sylvan “Jack” Jakosalem can be one of those few things in our lives that is a choice away, and the impact changes its direction completely.

Neurocystercosis (NCC), an infection of the central nervous system (CNS), which arises from unwittingly ingesting uncooked food that is contaminated with the larvae of tapeworm Taenia solium, can cause irreparable damage to the CNS part involved. The CNS is composed of the brain, spinal cord, and related network of neurons.

The World Health Organization considers NCC as a “major neglected disease.” Neglected in a sense that health authorities do not pay too much attention to eradicating it despite the fact that when this disease exists, it is usually endemic to that location. It has been endemic in many, if not most, of the Third World countries.

It is a significant health problem in Latin American countries, Haiti, sub-Saharan districts in Africa, India, Southeast Asia, China, Indonesia, and other regions less well categorized, such as New Guinea and Eastern Europe.

NCC is also a disease of the poorest population around the world. And that’s the reason why pharmaceutical companies are less enthusiastic in developing medicines against this disease. The patients are essentially those who cannot afford to buy the medicines. That makes neglected diseases dependent upon government subsidy and the generosity of charitable organizations.

While conventional diagnostic requirements for NCC—clinical history, positive serology, and computed topography or magnetic resonance imaging—are important, the best estimates of infection can be obtained through... [READ MORE]

This article appears in SunStar Cebu newspaper on 27 February 2013.

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