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Title: | Onchocerca volvulus as a risk factor for developing epilepsy in onchocerciasis endemic regions in the Democratic Republic of Congo: a case control study | Authors: | Mandro, Michel Suykerbuyk, Patrick Tepage, Floribert Rossy, Degratias Ngave, Francoise HASAN, Mirza Nazmul Hotterbeekx, An Mambandu, Germain Kashama, Jean Marie Laudisoit, Anne Colebunders, Robert |
Issue Date: | 2018 | Publisher: | BMC | Source: | INFECTIOUS DISEASES OF POVERTY, 7 (Art N° 79) | Abstract: | Background: A high prevalence of epilepsy has been observed in onchocerciasis endemic areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). With this study we aimed to investigate whether Onchocerca volvulus infection is a risk factor for developing epilepsy in onchocerciasis endemic regions in the DRC. Methods: Between October and December 2015, a multi-centre case control study was performed in onchocerciasis endemic health zones (HZ) in the DRC: one study site was situated in Tshopo Province in the HZ of Wanierukula (village of Salambongo) where there had been 13 annual community distributions of treatment with ivermectin (CDTI), a second was situated in Ituri Province in the HZ of Logo (village of Draju) where ivermectin had never been distributed and in the HZ of Rethy (village of Rassia) where there had been THREE CDTI annual campaigns before the study. Individuals with unprovoked convulsive epilepsy of unknown etiology were enrolled as cases (n = 175). Randomly selected healthy members of families without epilepsy cases from the same village and age-groups and were recruited as controls (n = 170). Results: Onchocerciasis associated symptoms (e.g., itching and abnormal skin) were more often present in cases compared to controls (respectively, OR = 2.63, 95% CI: 1.63-4.23, P<0.0001 and OR = 3.23, 95% CI: 1.48-7.09, P = 0.0034). A higher number of cases was found to present with microfilariae in skin snips and with O. volvulus IgG4 antibodies in the blood compared to controls. Moreover, the microfilariae load in skin snips was 3-10 times higher in cases than controls. Conclusions: This case control study confirms that O. volvulus is a risk factor for developing epilepsy in onchocerciasis endemic regions in the DRC. | Notes: | [Mandro, Michel] Minist Hlth, Prov Hlth Div Ituri, Bunia, DEM REP CONGO. [Suykerbuyk, Patrick; Hotterbeekx, An; Laudisoit, Anne; Colebunders, Robert] Univ Antwerp, Global Hlth Inst, Antwerp, Belgium. [Tepage, Floribert] Minist Hlth, Buta, DEM REP CONGO. [Rossy, Degratias] Programme Natl Iutte Onchocercose, Kisangani, DEM REP CONGO. [Ngave, Francoise] Ctr Rech Malad Trop Ituri, Rethy, DEM REP CONGO. [Hasan, Mirza Nazmul] Univ Hasselt, Campus Diepenbeek, Hasselt, Belgium. [Mambandu, Germain] Off Governor Tshopo, Kisangani, DEM REP CONGO. [Kashama, Jean Marie] Univ Kinshasa, Neuropsychopathol Ctr Mont Amba CNPP, Kinshasa, DEM REP CONGO. [Laudisoit, Anne] EcoHlth Alliance, New York, NY USA. | Keywords: | Onchocerciasis; Epilepsy; Case control study; Risk factors; Democratic Republic of Congo;Onchocerciasis; Epilepsy; Case control study; Risk factors; Democratic Republic of Congo | Document URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/1942/28826 | ISSN: | 2095-5162 | e-ISSN: | 2049-9957 | DOI: | 10.1186/s40249-018-0465-9 | ISI #: | 000459698600001 | Rights: | The Author(s). 2018 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. | Category: | A1 | Type: | Journal Contribution | Validations: | ecoom 2020 |
Appears in Collections: | Research publications |
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