Marin Benoît, Boussinesq Michel, Druet-Cabanac Michel, Kamgno Joseph, Bouteille Bernard, Preux Pierre-Marie
Institut de Neuroépidémiologie et de Neurologie Tropicale (EA 3174), Faculté de Médecine, 2 rue de Docteur Marcland, 87025 Limoges Cedex, France.
Trends Parasitol. 2006 Jan;22(1):17-20. doi: 10.1016/j.pt.2005.11.006. Epub 2005 Nov 22.
Epilepsy and onchocerciasis (river blindness) constitute serious public health problems in several tropical countries. There are four main mechanisms that might explain a relationship between these two diseases: (i) the presence of Onchocerca volvulus in the central nervous system; (ii) the pathogenicity of various O. volvulus strains; (iii) immunological mechanisms involving cross-reactive immunization or cytokine production during infection; and (iv) the triggering role of insomnia due to itching.