title: Estimating the non-monetary burden of neurocysticercosis in Mexico.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Neurocysticercosis (NCC) is a major public health problem in many developing countries where health education, sanitation, and meat inspection infrastructure are insufficient. The condition occurs when humans ingest eggs of the pork tapeworm Taenia solium, which then develop into larvae in the central nervous system. Although NCC is endemic in many areas of the world and is associated with considerable socio-economic losses, the burden of NCC remains largely unknown. This study provides the first estimate of disability adjusted life years (DALYs) associated with NCC in Mexico.
  
  
  METHODS
  DALYs lost for symptomatic cases of NCC in Mexico were estimated by incorporating morbidity and mortality due to NCC-associated epilepsy, and morbidity due to NCC-associated severe chronic headaches. Latin hypercube sampling methods were employed to sample the distributions of uncertain parameters and to estimate 95% credible regions (95% CRs).
  
  
  RESULTS
  In Mexico, 144,433 and 98,520 individuals are estimated to suffer from NCC-associated epilepsy and NCC-associated severe chronic headaches, respectively. A total of 25,341 (95% CR: 12,569-46,640) DALYs were estimated to be lost due to these clinical manifestations, with 0.25 (95% CR: 0.12-0.46) DALY lost per 1,000 person-years of which 90% was due to NCC-associated epilepsy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first estimate of DALYs associated with NCC in Mexico. However, this value is likely to be underestimated since only the clinical manifestations of epilepsy and severe chronic headaches were included. In addition, due to limited country specific data, some parameters used in the analysis were based on systematic reviews of the literature or primary research from other geographic locations. Even with these limitations, our estimates suggest that healthy years of life are being lost due to NCC in Mexico.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA.
authors.forename: Rachana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bhattarai
authors.forename: Christine M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Budke
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Carabin
authors.forename: Jefferson V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Proaño
authors.forename: Jose
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Flores-Rivera
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Corona
authors.forename: Renata
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ivanek
authors.forename: Karen F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Snowden
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Flisser
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D020019:Neurocysticercosis / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality*; D055815:Young Adult