00:00La tenia solium, conocida como tenia del cerdo, es un parásito que puede vivir durante años en el intestino humano
00:07y es capaz de llegar al cerebro.
00:09Cuando esto sucede, el huésped suele tener episodios severos de convulsiones y epilepsia.
00:30La tenia solium, o pig tapeworm.
00:34Now, having this worm in your gut is gross, but that's not the real threat.
00:39It is when we ingest the eggs of this parasite, and the larvae hatch inside our body, they go rogue,
00:47they get lodged in our brain, becoming the most common preventable cause of epilepsy.
00:57Welcome, Bernadette.
00:58So, let's talk about this tapeworm.
01:00How exactly does it affect humans?
01:03The tapeworm itself just lives in the gut with you and doesn't really do very much.
01:09It is quite a few meters long, but most of the time, people don't even know that they're infected with
01:15a tapeworm.
01:16If people ingest the egg and the cysts develop, they usually develop in the brain,
01:20and these cause severe symptoms like seizures or epilepsy or headache.
01:25This is what is called neurocystochosis.
01:27Up to 70% of all epilepsy cases in endemic areas where the parasite is present is attributable to the
01:39pig tapeworm.
01:40And this means it is preventable.
01:43And also, we don't have very good data, but 2.5 to 8 million people are estimated to be affected
01:52with neurocystochosis.
01:53So, this problem is really a problem of bad hygiene and also bad food preparation practices.
02:03There are treatments.
02:04One, it will depend whether it's the tapeworm that you're treating or the neurocystochosis.
02:10The tapeworm can be diagnosed rather simply in primary healthcare facilities,
02:15and a specific dewormer can be used to remove the worm.
02:20So, diagnosing neurocystochosis is more complex.
02:23You need imaging, but already the symptoms can actually guide you to seek medical attention.
02:31If you have seizures, epilepsy, stroke, even headaches, then this might be a prompt for you to seek medical care.
02:41Treatment of neurocystochosis would need to be guided by a specialized neurologist.
02:48And so, one principal way which would cut across many other health issues is good hygiene.
02:54Washing your hands after going to the bathroom, washing your vegetables, and using clean food preparation practices,
03:05and also avoiding use of untreated human manure.
03:10The other piece is really about building the awareness about this disease, the cycle,
03:17how it's transmitted so people understand how they can prevent getting infected.
03:23The third is really very important.
03:25That's where you get infected with the tapeworm, is cooking your pork.
03:29And, of course, as I mentioned earlier, the treatment.
03:33Treatment of people is really important.
03:35It doesn't break the cycle.
03:36If we want to break the cycle, we would want to vaccinate the pigs and deworm them.
03:44And this is in the principle of One Health.
03:46So, we're taking action not only in the human, but in the animal and in the environment.
03:53Thank you, Bernadette.
03:55There you have it.
