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Parasitic tapeworm larvae have been found in a man’s brain after weeks of worsening migraines, which researchers believe were caused by eating undercooked bacon.
In a report published last week, the American Journal of Case Reports documented an unidentified 52-year-old American man who experienced weekly migraines that did not respond to medications.
The man denied having traveled to “high-risk areas” [for] food security and lived at home with his wife and cat in a modern house,” according The report. Upon further questioning, the man revealed that he had a preference for “lightly cooked, non-crispy bacon,” which he ate for most of his life.
After a CT scan of the man, Florida researchers found numerous fluid-filled sacs, or cystic foci, in your brain. Without massive effects from a possible tumor growing in his brain or hydrocephalus, a buildup of fluid in brain cavities, researchers suspected congenital neuroglial cysts.
After being admitted to the hospital, the man tested positive for antibodies against cysticercosis cyst. He was later diagnosed with neurocysticercosis, a preventable parasitic infection caused by larval systems of the pork tapeworm. had solium.
“One can only speculate, but given our patient’s predilection for undercooked pork and his history of benign exposure, we favor that his cysticercosis was transmitted through autoinfection following inadequate handwashing after himself contracted taeniasis due to his eating habits,” the researchers say. saying.
The man was then prescribed anti-inflammatory and anti-parasitic medications, including dexamethasone, albendazole and praziquantel, and was successfully treated.
The researchers added: “The treatment of neurocysticercosis is controversial. Antiparasitic drugs such as praziquantel or albendazole have sufficient activity against had solium, but there is concern that most of the inflammation occurs when the cysts are removed, giving some doctors pause in considering treatment. “After a discussion about the risks and benefits, our patient finally decided to pursue definitive treatment with albendazole.”
Neurocysticercosis is contracted when a person swallows microscopic tapeworm eggs. According According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), if a person eats infected, undercooked pork and contracts a tapeworm infection in the intestines, the person passes the eggs in the feces. If they don’t wash their hands after using the bathroom, they can contaminate food or surfaces with feces that contain eggs. These eggs can be ingested by another person if they eat contaminated food.
Once the eggs reach the body, they hatch and become larvae, which sometimes lodge in the brain, causing neurocysticercosis. Disease symptoms can vary depending on the location of the lesions, the number of parasites, and the host’s immune response. according Medscape. Possible symptoms include epilepsy, headache and dizziness and stroke.
Although the disease occurs globally, its highest infection rates are in areas of Latin America, Asia and Africa that have poor sanitary conditions and free-range pigs with access to human feces, according to the CDC. reports.
It adds that there are an estimated 1,000 new hospitalizations for neurocysticercosis each year in the U.S., with cases most frequently reported in New York, California, Texas, Oregon and Illinois. Currently, the CDC considers neurocysticercosis a neglected parasitic infection, a classification for a group of diseases that cause significant illness among infected people and are often poorly understood by health professionals.