**2. Epidemiology of cysticercosis**

The genus Taenia are human parasite consisting of three species (*T. solium*, *T. saginata*, and *T. asiatica*). These parasites live as an adult tapeworms in human intestines causing taeniasis, and the cause leads to cysticercosis in human after ingesting eggs with water, contaminated food, or *via* dirty hands. The World Health Organization (WHO) lists neurocysticercosis as a neglected tropical disease and infection accounted for 50 million people worldwide with 50,000 deaths each year. The clinical manifestations of cysticercosis are highly variable both in kind and in severity with the period of initial infection expressed and the onset of symptoms is generally dependent on the concentration, size, and location of the cysts as well as the host immune response to the parasite's infectivity. However, the preferred locations are the muscles, subcutaneous tissues, central nervous system (CNS), and eyes. Subcutaneous and muscular forms are often asymptomatic. Severe cysticercosis is due to larvae located in human CNS—neurocysticercosis. Most frequently clinical manifestations are seizures, intracranial hypertension, neurological deficits, and sometimes psychiatric manifestations, and over 50% of cases of late-onset epilepsy in developing countries. Usually, cysticercosis is characterized by mild and nonspecific symptoms with abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea, or constipation may arise when the tapeworms become fully developed in the intestine, approximately 8 weeks after ingestion of meat containing cysticerci. These symptoms may however continue until the tapeworm dies following treatment, otherwise, it may live for several years. In the case of cysticercosis due to *T. solium*, the incubation period prior to the appearance of clinical symptoms is variable, and infected people may remain asymptomatic for many years.
