We are IntechOpen, the world's leading publisher of Open Access books Built by scientists, for scientists

5,500+

Open access books available

136,000+

International authors and editors

170M+ Downloads

156 Countries delivered to Our authors are among the

Top 1% most cited scientists

12.2%

Selection of our books indexed in the Book Citation Index (BKCI) in Web of Science Core Collection™

### Interested in publishing with us? Contact book.department@intechopen.com

Numbers displayed above are based on latest data collected. For more information visit www.intechopen.com

## Meet the editors

Dr. Jorge Morales-Montor was recognized with the Lola and Igo Flisser PUIS Award for best graduate thesis at the national level in the field of parasitology. He received a fellowship from the Fogarty Foundation to perform postdoctoral research stay at the University of Georgia. He has 153 journal articles to his credit. He has also edited several books and published more than fifty-five book chapters. He is a member of the Mexican Acade-

my of Sciences, Latin American Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Medicine. He has received more than thirty-five awards and has supervised numerous bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D. students. Dr. Morales-Montor is the past president of the Mexican Society of Parasitology.

Dr. Luis Ignacio Terrazas majored in biology at Universidad Veracruzana, Mexico. He obtained a master's and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences, both from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). He was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University. He is the coordinator of the National Laboratory in Health, FES-Iztacala, UNAM. His research and career have been recognized with different

awards, including first and third prizes in Basic Biomedical Sciences from the National Institutes of Health Mexico, and the State Award of Science and Technology (Biomedical Sciences) and Medal for Sciences 2016, both by the Government of the State of Mexico. He has received several travel awards from the American Association of Immunologists and the Society of Mucosal Immunity. Dr. Terrazas has more than 110 international peer-reviewed publications to his credit.

Dr. Abraham Landa obtained a BSc in Biochemistry, an MsC in Biology, and a Ph.D. in Biology, all from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. He was a research fellow in the Department of Tropical Public Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University. He was awarded a second-place Lola and Igo Flisser Award for research in parasitology, the Gabino Barreda medal for his doctorate studies, and the "Nayarit for

Scientific and Technological Research", awarded by the Government of Nayarit. He also was awarded a university merit award in teaching from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He has more than seventy international peer-reviewed publications to his credit.

Contents

**Section 1**

Approaches

**Section 2**

**Section 3**

in Neurocysticercosis *by Matías Gastón Pérez*

*and María Luisa Villareal*

Controversies and Confusions

**Preface XI**

Clinical Cysticercosis **1**

**Chapter 1 3**

and Immunodiagnosis **17**

**Chapter 2 19**

**Chapter 3 35**

**Chapter 4 53**

New Leading Compounds as Possible Drug Targets in Cysticercosis **69**

**Chapter 5 71**

Cardiac Cysticercosis: Current Trends in Diagnostic and Therapeutic

*Sara da Silva Veras, Ricardo Pereira Silva and Geraldo Bezerra da Silva Júnior*

Recent Advances in Cysticercosis Research: Vaccine Immune Response

Development of an Oral Vaccine for the Control of Cysticercosis *by Marisela Hernández, Anabel Ortiz Caltempa, Jacquelynne Cervantes,* 

*Nelly Villalobos, Cynthia Guzmán, Gladis Fragoso, Edda Sciutto* 

The Long Road to the Immunodiagnosis of Neurocysticercosis:

*by Marcela Esquivel-Velázquez, Carlos Larralde, Pedro Ostoa-Saloma,* 

*Taenia solium* microRNAs: Potential Biomarkers and Drug Targets

Regulation of the Immune Response in Cysticercosis:

*Víctor Hugo Del Río Araiza and Jorge Morales-Montor*

Lessons from an Old Acquainted Infection *by Jonadab E. Olguín and Luis Ignacio Terrazas*

*by Ane Karoline Medina Néri, Danielli Oliveira da Costa Lino,* 

### Contents



Preface

Cysticercosis, caused by the larval stage of *Taenia solium*, is a serious health and veterinary problem in many developing countries and is considered one of the most important neglected tropical diseases in developed countries. In humans, *T. solium* cysticerci cause neurocysticercosis, which affects approximately 50 million people worldwide and is considered an emergent disease in the United States. *T. solium* also infects pigs, its intermediate hosts, leading to major economic losses. When humans ingest undercooked contaminated pork meat, the adult worm develops in the small intestine. After two months of asymptomatic infection, this tapeworm starts producing thousands of eggs that, once released with stools, can contaminate the environment, infecting pigs (rapidly differentiating into cysticerci mainly in the muscle) and humans (where most severe symptoms are observed due to the presence of cysticerci in the brain). Thus, maintenance of the parasite's life cycle depends on the adult tapeworm development. Even in communities that do not rear or consume pigs, human neurocysticercosis can be found, because of the presence of a tapeworm carrier. Furthermore, tapeworm development depends on scolex evagination, the initial step through which a single cysticercus becomes an adult parasite with the capability of producing infective eggs. There has been a great deal of scientific advances in this field, including in vaccination, epidemiology, current drug design, diagnostics, and host-parasite interaction at all levels. However, to date, there is no book that discusses these advances in detail. As such, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of the art in taeniosis/ cysticercosis. It discusses recent advances in the study of cysticercosis and taeniosis, incuiding topics such as clinical disease, vaccines, immune response diagnostics,

The book begins with a discussion in Chapter 1 by Medina Néri et al. about cardiac cysticercosis, a rare infection whose diagnosis is usually incidental because most patients are asymptomatic. Laboratory and imaging tests, such as echocardiogram and cardiac nuclear magnetic resonance, can also be used in the diagnostic approach. The clinical manifestations are broad, and patients can present with symptoms that range from heart failure to arrhythmias. Treatment of this condition has been scarcely studied and no protocols have been well established to date. One can choose not to treat the asymptomatic cases or to use cestocides, in the case of symptomatic individuals. Patient monitoring through cardiac enzymes and electrocardiogram during treatment is recommended, as well as performing imaging tests after treatment. Thus, the chapter discusses cardiac cysticercosis, covering everything from its epidemiology and clinical aspects to diagnostic methods, therapeutics, and

treatment monitoring, with emphasis on the most current aspects.

In Chapter 2, Marisela Hernández et al. describe the most important advances in the development of an oral vaccine against porcine cysticercosis. Parasitic, fecally transmitted diseases, such as taeniasis/cysticercosis, represent a health problem with continued incidence due to the prevalence of inadequate sanitary conditions, particularly in developing countries. When the larval stage of the parasite is established in the central nervous system it causes neurocysticercosis, a disease that can severely affect human health. It can also cause cysticercosis in pigs, resulting in economic

and new possible drug targets.
