Taenia (including cysticercosis) and hydatid disease

Taenia solium and Echinococcus spp. are common parasites of humans. Most infections occur in the developing world and are closely related to poverty and ignorance. These cestodes tend to infect the CNS, where they cause complex and pleomorphic clinical syndromes, including epilepsy, chronic meningitis, acute encephalitis, focal neurological deficits and intracranial hypertension. Diagnosis of these conditions is a challenge, because clinical manifestations are nonspecific, most neuro-imaging findings are non-pathognomonic, and immunological tests have problems related to poor specificity and sensitivity. Therefore, diagnosis should always be based on objective evaluation of clinical, radiological, immunological and epidemiological data. Treatment must be individualized according to the number and location of lesions in the CNS and the viability of the parasites. The introduction of antiparasitic drugs such as praziquantel and albendazole has radically changed the prognosis in most patients with taeniosis, cysticercosis or hydatidosis.