Intervenciones de enfermería en pacientes con neurocisticercosis

Abstract

Introduction: Neurocysticercosis is a disease caused by the consumption of eggs of the parasite Taenia solium from contaminated food and larvae in undercooked pork; as the infection progresses, it attacks and damages the central nervous system. Methodology: A bibliographic review was carried out with the search and selection of articles related to the research topic, in English, Spanish and Portuguese; found in scientific databases such as SciELO, PubMed, Dialnet, among others. The DeCS Health Sciences Descriptors were considered for the keywords search and the Boolean operators "AND" and "OR" were used in the search equations. Results: The prevalence of neurocysticercosis is particularly high in developing countries due to socioeconomic levels. Factors associated with this disease include consumption of contaminated meat and food, as well as poor hygiene and dietary habits; the main complications are seizures, which may eventually affect the patient's cognitive abilities; the main therapy is the use of albendazole, corticosteroids, and analgesics to relieve symptoms, and surgery in more severe cases. Conclusion: Neurocysticercosis is a parasitic infection considered a public health problem, and is neglected by health authorities, but it is preventable through education of the population, based on proper hygiene and food handling.