Cerebral cysticercosis: why it should be treated

BACKGROUND: In Guadeloupe, cases of neurocysticercosis have been rarely observed in people recently immigrated from Haiti. We followed 2 women with seizures, associated with meningitis or encephalitis. CASE REPORT: Computed tomography scan and muscle X-ray have displayed specific features of cysticercosis with small diffuse calcifications. This was associated with positive antibodies for cysticercosis. After respectively 5 and 17 years, these patients developed recurrent manifestations of neurocysticercosis with subacute, quite silent meningitis after pregnancy, with CSF increased cells count (180 lymphocytes/mm3), raised protein level (0.6 g/l) and positive antibodies for cysticercosis in the first case, and cortical granuloma with fever and repetitive seizures in the second. DISCUSSION: These observations suggest that the patients were chronically infested, for more than 5 years. Although the brain lesions were quiescent for many years, new lesions responsible for inflammatory cysts occurred while they still lived outside her native endemic area. In such cases, treatment would benefit to the patient by breaking down the auto-infestation cycle.