A tapeworm commonly found in pork that has not been cooked correctly was found crawling around in, and eating, a man’s brain. If that sounds bad, it only gets worse: the worm had been living in the brain for a whopping four years before it was discovered.
Surgeons at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge, England, had to remove the creature surgically as no effective drugs have been developed to safely kill it, Fox News reports. The particular variety of worm that had set up a cozy residence in the man’s brain is called Spirometra erinaceieuropaei. It is found most frequently in places such as Japan, China, Thailand and South Korea. The man was from China and had traveled there just prior to coming down with symptoms.
The man was suffering from severe headaches when he sought treatment at the U.K. hospital. He was released but later returned with worsening symptoms such as seizures and weakness in the legs. It was then that neurologists found the tapeworm crawling around in and eating the man’s brain. They were able to see it move over time from one hemisphere of the brain to another. As it traveled, it left a trail of scar tissue behind due to its chomping on the man’s cerebral tissues.
Doctors involved in the case say that Spirometra erinaceieuropaei has never before been found in the U.K. The tapeworm lives in infected animals and then can invade a person’s system via under-cooked pork and pork products, but they think the man caught it from swimming in an infected lake, where the creature can also reside.
Scientists studying the worm are now sequencing its DNA to learn more about it and perhaps eventually develop drugs that could treat the infection rather than have the patient have to undergo surgery. If left untreated, the animal may create conditions in the brain that result in paralysis, blindness or even death.
Health officials say that these types of tapeworm infections will become increasingly common as travel becomes more widespread. The best way to protect yourself from having a tapeworm take up residence in your brain is to avoid eating improperly prepared pork and by frequent hand washing, especially after exposure to animals.