A Trial of Antiparasitic Treatment to Reduce the Rate of Seizures Due to Cerebral Cysticercosis

Neurocysticercosis is a major cause of seizures worldwide. This double-blind trial of a 10-day course of albendazole included 30 months of follow-up. With the antiparasitic treatment there was some reduction in the number of partial seizures and a significant reduction in the number of seizures with generalization. Fewer seizures with generalization. In the developing world, neurocysticercosis — infection of the central nervous system with Taenia solium larvae — is the single most common cause of acquired epilepsy. 1 In Latin America alone, it is estimated that more than 400,000 persons have neurologic symptoms due to neurocysticercosis. 2 The disease has also become increasingly recognized in industrialized countries, because of immigration from countries where the infection is endemic and improved neuroimaging and serologic means of diagnosis. 3 Recently, neurocysticercosis was found in 10 percent of patients with seizures who presented to an emergency department in Los Angeles and 6 percent of such patients in New . . .