10 February 2025: World Epilepsy Day / Interview with Prof. Mofou Belo, specialist in neurology and neurophysiology

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Extract from the article: According to the WHO, epilepsy is a neurological disease that affects around 50 million people worldwide. This makes it one of the most common neurological disorders. Epilepsy can be treated in 70% of cases, but sufferers and their families can face

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«Epilepsy is neither a shameful nor a contagious disease. If you have epilepsy, you should consult a neurologist for treatment»

According to the WHO, epilepsy is a neurological disease that affects around 50 million people worldwide. This makes it one of the most common neurological disorders. Epilepsy can be treated in 70% of cases, but sufferers and their families can face stigma. To mark International Epilepsy Day on Monday 10 February 2025, Professor Mofou Bélo, Neurology Specialist and Head of the Non-Communicable Diseases Surveillance Division, provides an update on this neurological disorder, which causes seizures due to a transient malfunction of the brain's nerve cells.

Health-Education: What is epilepsy?

Prof. Mofou Bélo: Epilepsy is a neurological disease with a variety of manifestations, including generalised and partial seizures.However, it's the generalised seizures that are best known: the person falls, rolls on the floor, leaks urine and bites their tongue, followed by a coma. In very rare cases, it runs in families, but it can also be acquired.There are genetic and acquired causes of epilepsy.

What causes epilepsy?

Acquired causes: these can occur most often after the birth of the child. These include suffering during the neonatal period, brain infections and trauma. Causes acquired in adulthood include trauma, infections, tumours and strokes, as well as road accidents without helmets in which the head is traumatized. Cerebrovascular accidents, certain infectious or parasitic diseases, and excessive alcohol or drug consumption are the main causes in adults.

Genetic causes: in a family where the father, mother or even a former grandparent was epileptic, the condition may return after several generations.

What are the recognisable signs of epilepsy?

There are generally two types of manifestation: generalised seizures and partial seizures.

Generalised seizures: These are the most spectacular and the best known.They manifest as loss of consciousness with a fall, convulsive movements and sometimes tongue biting and loss of urine.

There are also absences, manifested by a brief suspension of consciousness. For a few seconds, the individual is right in front of them but loses all contact with the environment.

Partial seizures: these are localised to a part of the body.They can result in motor disorders, sensory disorders (sensation of pins and needles on the body) and memory or consciousness disorders.

However, there are other manifestations of epileptic seizures.Sometimes it's recurring abdominal pain that comes on suddenly and for a relatively short time.

How can you tell if you have epilepsy?

It is the symptoms that lead the patient or those around him to seek medical advice. And it is only after an electroencephalography examination, which reveals characteristic elements of the seizure, that we will know.In other cases, CT scans and MRIs can pinpoint the cause of the epilepsy.

What factors contribute to epileptic seizures?

You can be epileptic without knowing it. However, there are many factors that can cause epileptic seizures: sleep debt, drug and alcohol abuse.Sometimes sports that require heavy breathing can trigger a seizure in an epileptic. Similarly, light stimuli such as light shows in nightclubs, certain images on TV, noisy environments, anxiety and anguish can trigger epileptic seizures.Other factors such as fear, hunger and hypoglycaemia are not negligible.

Who is at risk?

Anyone can develop epilepsy, especially secondary or acquired epilepsy. It is important to remember that drug users are more susceptible. This is because drugs weaken the brain.

Is an epileptic mentally deficient?

Certainly not.There are very intelligent epileptics, even more intelligent than apparently healthy people.But it has to be said that in the acquired form, memory can be impaired.

What is the state of the disease in Togo?

The data available to us is hospital-based.In 2022, 5373 people consulted a doctor for epilepsy, and in 2023, 4815.We know that a large proportion of epileptics treat themselves or go to healers or pastors.

Can epilepsy be cured?

In its genetic form, in most cases it disappears on its own at puberty. However, the individual may have seizures again one day if the triggering factor recurs. In acquired forms, people live with epilepsy for the rest of their lives.For example, in the case of epilepsy following a cranial trauma, the treatment is taken for life.

How often do seizures occur?

Epileptic seizures vary from patient to patient. Some people have a seizure once a month, others have an occasional seizure, i.e. once a year, and still others have a seizure hundreds of times a day. In the latter case, this means that either the individual is not being treated, or is not taking the medication regularly, or that the factors favouring the onset of attacks are poorly controlled.

Are there any dietary restrictions for people with epilepsy?

People with epilepsy can eat anything.However, alcohol and stimulants should be avoided.We often hear that people with epilepsy should not eat okra, adémè, manioc, etc. These are certainly false beliefs. These are certainly false beliefs. People with epilepsy can live like everyone else.What they need is to get a good night's sleep, take their medication at set times and on a regular basis, avoid risk factors and see their doctor regularly.

Are all jobs suitable for people with epilepsy?

No. People with epilepsy should not work in the armed forces (police, gendarmerie, army, etc.). They should also avoid aviation, bricklaying, carpentry - in short, any job that involves working at height.They should avoid driving motorbikes and cars, as well as certain sports such as swimming and cross-country running.They can, however, walk normally and slowly.

General advice

Epilepsy is neither a shameful nor a contagious disease.If you suffer from epilepsy, you should consult a neurologist for treatment.I advise anyone who knows they have epilepsy to always carry a card with the following information on it: ‘I have epilepsy, I take this or that medicine; if I have a seizure, take me to see my doctor at this name and number’.This card is important because if you have a seizure in the street, it could save your life.Let's get our epileptics out of the shadows so that they can live normal lives, without having to worry about getting treatment.

Interview by Abel OZIH