A Florida man’s excruciating migraines turned out to have a terrifying cause: a real brain worm. In a recent case study, his doctor described how he developed tapeworm egg parasites in his brain, possibly contracted from eating undercooked bacon. Thankfully, the man was successfully treated.
This strange medical story is detailed It was published last week in the American Journal of Case Reports. It was written by physicians from the University of South Florida and the Orlando Regional Health System.
According to reports, the 52-year-old man had a history of chronic migraines. But by the time he went to the outpatient clinic, his headaches had lasted four months and were getting more severe and frequent—and the usual treatments were no longer working.
Given this new migraine pattern, doctors decided to perform a CT scan of his head. That’s when they discovered lesions caused by cysts were evident on both sides of the brain. Further tests ruled out other causes and confirmed the man was infected with a specific form of the pork tapeworm (Tape sole) Infection: Neurocysticercosis.
There are two types of pork tapeworm infections.if we take Larvae tapeworm cysts found in pork or other undercooked meats, they can migrate to our intestines and grow into mature adult tapeworms. These worms can cause gastrointestinal illness and weight loss, although people usually don’t experience any symptoms. The worms also lay eggs, which are expelled from the body. If the eggs end up infecting pigs or other host animals, the life cycle begins all over again.
But if it’s another person, or even the same infected person, then Take these eggsAfter that, the new generation of worms reaches a dead end and matures into cystic life forms. The cysts can then invade different parts of the body, including the brain, eventually causing a new round of trouble.Although cerebral tapeworm infections are rare in the United States, they are a Main causes of epileptic seizures Cysticercosis is often considered a neglected tropical disease in adults worldwide.
The infected person reported no recent travel history to areas of the world with higher tapeworm risk, and no history of consuming raw or street food. But he did admit to regularly eating undercooked, non-crispy bacon, which seems to be the most likely culprit for his predicament.
Doctors suspect the man contracted tapeworms at some point from eating undercooked bacon and then gave himself a second tapeworm cyst by not washing his hands properly after going to the toilet. They note that, assuming this is correct, this is a highly unusual situation because tapeworm-infected pork is now rare in the United States (most cases are discovered while traveling).
While seizures are often the most obvious symptom of neurocysticercosis, it can trigger a range of more subtle neurological problems. Therefore, doctors should at least consider the possibility of neurocysticercosis as a cause of acute migraine changes in patients, even if classic risk factors such as travel are not present, the report authors said.
As for the unfortunate man, he was treated with steroids and antiparasitic drugs, which seemed to alleviate his headaches and brain damage caused by the tapeworm cysts.