Taenia solium cysticercosis is a zoonosis which affects animals, mainly pigs, and human
beings.
In pigs the cysticerci are found both in muscles and in the brain, in human beings
predominantly in the form of neurocysticercosis (Escobar,1983; Fleury et al., 2003, 2006,
2010) but muscular, subcutaneous and ocular forms have also been reported. (Larralde &
Aluja, 2006)
The disease is found mainly in countries where poverty prevails, hygiene is lacking and
people live in close contact with pigs.
In Mexico the disease is present in marginated rural areas of the southern states, (Guerrero,
Oaxaca, Puebla, Veracruz, Tabasco, Yucatan, parts of Morelos and others) where the above
mentioned conditions exist and the parasite encounters a favorable environment for its
survival. Many of the inhabitants of these areas are extremely poor, their dwellings are
made of reed, wood or other cheap materials available in their region. Their number is
calculated to be 47,190,000 million (INEGI 2009; CEPAL 2010). Few hamlets or villages have
piped water and get their supply from wells that may dry up during the hot season or from
ponds where rain water accumulates. Donkeys frequently bring water to isolated dwellings
in 20 liter containers of which they carry four. There are villages where water is rationed
during the very dry months and people get one bucket per day.
Roads are rarely paved, and many become impassable during the rainy season. Children
often have to walk long distances to get to school and depending on the weather and road
conditions do not go, some barely learn how to read and write. In many of these remote
areas the inhabitants speak their indigenous languages, have difficulties understanding
Spanish, and an interpreter is needed to communicate with them.