Resumen de Neuroepidemiological survey for epilepsy and knowledge about neurocysticiercosis at sidwadweni location, south africa
H Foyaca Sibat, A.R Del Rio, LdeF Ibanez Valdes, E del C Vega Novoa, A.A Awotedu
Objective To determine the prevalence of epilepsy and to screening knowledge about neurocysiticercosis (NCC) and HIV/AIDS in adult population of one South Africa rural community.
Setting: Sidwadweni community, at 30 km away from Umtata (Capital of the former Transkei).
Design: A two-stage design study was used. The first stage involved screening of the general population on door-to-door basis by interviewing peoples living in 100 household selected by block-randomisation procedure using an internationally validated questionnaire for detecting epilepsy and knowledge about some associated diseases. The second stage consisted of a neurological assessment of the peoples who screened positive.
Results: A total of adults were screened. The prevalence of active epilepsy among adult population was 3.6/1000, and 4.7/1000 in children. Most of epileptic patients were not under regular anti-epileptic treatment, 87 % of the total population had not idea about NCC, but only 10 % did not know the cause of AIDS.
Conclusions: The prevalence of epilepsy is not very high compared with a similar community but a poor utilization of anti-epileptic treatment is cause for concern. Traditional belief’s roots on this community are considerably deep. HIV/AIDS awareness campaign for Sidwadweni is functional, and a similar campaign for prevention of NCC should be performed while permanent solutions are implemented.
