Stock image of raw bacon alongside scan of tapeworm eggs in man’s brain.Photo:Getty; American Journal of Case Reports
Getty; American Journal of Case Reports
A Florida man seeking treatment for his chronic, worsening migraines discovered that he had worm eggs in his brain, which was causing his pain.
The unidentified man, 52, went to the hospital complaining that his migraines were now occurring weekly, and an CT scan showed a mass that doctors initially thought were “congenital neuroglial cysts" according to a report published in theAmerican Journal of Case Reports.
The patient was admitted to the hospital, where an MRI and other tests confirmed these masses weren’t cysts, but were thelarvae of tapeworms.
“Cysticercosis IgG Cysts antibody returned positive, confirming the suspicion of neurocysticercosis,” the report said.
Scans from a Florida man who had worm eggs in his brain.American Journal of Case Reports
American Journal of Case Reports
“The larval cysts can infect various parts of the body causing a condition known as cysticercosis. Larval cysts in the brain cause a form of cysticercosis called neurocysticercosis which can lead to seizures.”
“Neurocysticercosis, which affects the brain and is the most severe form of the disease,can be fatal,” the CDC says.
The study noted that “it is very rare for patients to contract neurocysticercosis outside of classic exposures or travel, and such cases in the United States were thought to be nonexistent…It is historically very unusual to encounter infected pork in the United States, and our case may have public health implications.”
And while the man “denied eating raw or street food " the report says he “admitted to a habit of eating lightly cooked, non-crispy bacon for most of his life” — which doctors theorized was the source of his infection.
“It can only be speculated, but given our patient’s predilection for undercooked pork and benign exposure history, we favor that his cysticercosis was transmitted via autoinfection after improper handwashing after he had contracted taeniasis himself from his eating habits.”
Stock image of uncooked bacon.Getty
Getty
The way the parasite ends up in the head after being ingested is as unpleasant as the concept of worm eggs in the brain,according to the CDC.
The man was treated with antiparasitic and anti-inflammatory medications, the report says, and instructed to follow up with an infectious diseases clinic.
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source: people.com
