Doctors find 700 tapeworms living in man's brain, chest and lungs after he consumes undercooked pork
A man was found to have over 700 tapeworms reportedly living in his body after he was taken to hospital following complaints of headaches and seizures.
The man, 43-year-old Zhu Zhong-fa, from China's Zheijiang province, had reportedly blamed his symptoms on a hotpot he ate a month before going to the doctors, according to a Mirror report.
The patient decided to get help from the First Affiliated Hospital of College of Medicine at Zhejiang University after local medics had no idea what caused his symptoms.
When Dr. Wang Jian-rong conducted a medical check on Zhu, he was found to have taeniasis, a parasitic disease due to infection with tapeworms. What's more? The doctor also discovered Zhu had over 700 tapeworms across his body.
Tapeworms usually enter the body if the host has consumed tapeworm eggs from infected meat that hasn't been cooked properly.
"There are multiple presences of space-occupying lesions in the patient's brain," Dr. Wang told Pear Video. "It's also in the lungs and fills up the muscles inside the chest cavity."
According to him, the worms have already caused considerable damage to Zhu's organs.
When tapeworm eggs enter the host's central nervous system, they can cause several neurological symptoms, including epileptic seizures, according to the World Health Organization.
However, the NHS claims "this can only occur if you swallow the eggs of a type of tapeworm found in pigs, which can happen if tiny bits of poo off someone with this tapeworm get into your mouth. It can't happen from eating pork."
According to Zhu, however, the pork meat in the aforementioned hotpot he consumed a month ago might not have been cooked properly.
"We tend to have a lot of meat-based meals in our daily lives, like roast lamb and roast pork. If it's undercooked, the tapeworm eggs will stay alive when ingested," Dr. Wang explained.
"And if you have had the uncooked meat, there's a chance that the tapeworms can travel through the body and inflict different diseases," he added.
Tapeworm infections are fairly common, and many don't cause obvious symptoms and can be treated easily, according to the report. However, if untreated, the worms can spread to vital parts of the body and cause serious damage.
To avoid such infections, one must incorporate good hygiene while using the restroom and consume only well-cooked food, the report added.