Epidemiology of Neurocysticercosis

描述（由申请人提供）：拟议的研究将调查脑囊虫病（NCC）感染的各种临床表现。将使用的数据是为在厄瓜多尔进行的NCC感染治疗临床试验收集的。通过二次分析，我们将调查宿主因素，特别是性别，年龄和家庭聚集，以及寄生虫感染的特征，特别是在大脑中的位置和寄生虫的进化阶段，是否影响NCC的临床表现。本研究将进一步探讨宿主因素对NCC感染临床症状的影响是否通过寄生虫感染的特征介导。通过更好地了解NCC引起症状的机制，我们希望改善对患有这种疾病的患者的诊断和治疗，并为未来的研究提出方向。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The research proposed will investigate the diverse clinical manifestations of neurocysticercosis (NCC) infection. The data that will be used was collected for a clinical trial of treatment for NCC infection that was conducted in Ecuador. Through secondary analysis, we will investigate if host factors, specifically sex, age and familial aggregation, and characteristics of the parasitic infection, specifically location in the brain and phase of evolution of the parasite, influences the clinical manifestations of NCC. Further this proposed research will investigate if the effect of host factors on the clinical symptoms of NCC infection is mediated through the characteristics of the parasitic infection. Through a better understanding of the mechanisms through which NCC causes symptoms we hope to improve diagnosis and treatment of patients afflicted with this disease and to suggest directions for future research.