**10. Prevention, control, and treatment of cysticercosis**

### **10.1 Mass treatment**

Mass treatment of human decreases logistic costs and increases feasibility with high-advantage interventions around the geohelminths regions requiring less field visits and concern raised about environmental contamination [14].

## **10.2 Community health education**

Health education of the target population most captured educational design of control/elimination programs to increase sustainability. Individuals without knowledge of infected meat have a higher risk of getting taeniasis by mis-ingestion and may subsequently get cysticercosis [32]. Community education in combination with a multipronged approach consisting of vaccination of pigs is necessary.

## **10.3 Targeted treatment of infected persons**

Targeted treatment is effective to decrease the source of infection, finding infected individuals with informed intervention choice of treatment and drug optimization.

## **10.4 Meat radiation and freezing**

The use of gamma-radiation and meat freezing for more than 1–3 days as proposed by Verster et al. [33] and Sotelo et al. [34] killed cysts before pork consumption and minimized the use of expensive and sophisticated equipment discussed in Gilman et al. [14].

#### **10.5 Personal hygiene**

Personal hygiene and sanitary health measures are critical to avoid human fecooral contamination where indiscriminate defecations are identified as a risk factor for cysticercosis. Individuals with such poor defecating habits generally have poor hygienic behaviors and thereby increase the high risk of cysticercosis. Regular handwashing with soap and running tap water, proper washing of fruits, vegetables before eating, and washing of cutleries/utensils reduces the risk of infectivity [3, 10, 32, 35] (**Table 1**).

#### **10.6 Treatment**

Cysticercosis if treated include immediate measures to prevent morbidity and mortality, and following surgical to control seizures, corticosteroids to control inflammation, and anthelminthic medications to kill cysts as outlined below:


iv.Surgery to removal of cysts or to put in a tube to redirect the fluids in the brain induced by the presence of cysticerci.

Globally, studies for circulating human cysticercosis antigen were 5.52% in positive cases and 14.20% for antibodies. Although, the incessant use of pig feces


#### **Table 1.**

*The global estimated prevalence rates of human cysticercosis.*

#### **Figure 1.** *Life cycle of Taenia solium (human cysticercosis).*

as fertilizer has become imperative to farmers and poses the risk of cysticerci food contamination, thereby supporting encystment. However, heavy infectivity calls for the carcass's complete condemnation despite the provision for freezing treatment, though pending approval in light or moderate infestation (**Figure 1**).
