title: Relationship between onchocerciasis and epilepsy: a matched case-control study in the Mbam Valley, Republic of Cameroon.
abstract: Studies conducted during the past 10 years to investigate the possible relationship between onchocerciasis and epilepsy have led to contradictory results. In 1991-92 and 2001 we investigated 14 villages in central Cameroon to evaluate the relationship, at the community level, between the prevalence of epilepsy and the endemicity level of onchocerciasis. A case-control study compared the microfilarial loads of 72 epileptic and 72 non-epileptic individuals, matched according to sex, age, and village of residence. The prevalence of epilepsy and the community microfilarial load (CMFL) were closely related (P < 0.02), and the case-control study demonstrated that the microfilarial loads (microfilariae per snip) in the epileptic group (arithmetic mean = 288, median = 216) were significantly higher (P < 10(-4)) than in the control group (arithmetic mean = 141, median = 63). The results strongly support the existence of a link between onchocerciasis and epilepsy. The fact that such a relationship has not been found recently in some other West and Central African areas is probably due to the lowered endemicity of onchocerciasis following vector- and ivermectin-related control measures applied over the past 5-25 years. The socio-economic and demographic impact of onchocerciasis-related epilepsy should be evaluated, and taken into account as part of all onchocerciasis control programmes.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Laboratoire Mixte IRD-Centre Pasteur du Cameroun d'Epidémiologie et de Santé Publique, Centre Pasteur du Cameroun, Yaounde, Cameroon. michel.boussinesq@wanadoo.fr
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boussinesq
authors.forename: S D S
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Pion
authors.lastname: Demanga-Ngangue
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kamgno
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D002163:Cameroon / Q000453:epidemiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017181:Onchocerca volvulus; D009855:Onchocerciasis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D015995:Prevalence; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors