A Florida man kept having migraines. Doctors then discovered tapeworm eggs in his brain.
A Florida man suffering from persistent migraines was in for what was likely a nasty shock when he sought medical treatment and learned what was causing the pain.
Festering tapeworm eggs were discovered to have taken up residence in his head after physicians conducted a CT scan to obtain a detailed image of the 52-year-old man’s brain. And lots of them.
But the parasitic infection didn’t happen by accident. The man admitted to making a habit of regularly consuming undercooked bacon, which experts believe is what made him particularly vulnerable to the infestation, according to a report published in the American Journal of Case Reports.
“It is historically very unusual to encounter infected pork in the United States,” researchers wrote. “Our case may have public health implications.”
Neurocysticercosis ‘thought to be nonexistent’ in U.S.
If a person unwittingly ingests the microscopic eggs of pork tapeworms (known medically as Taenia solium,) they are putting themselves at risk of developing either cysticercosis or the much more dangerous neurocysticercosis.
People most often contract the infection by swallowing tapeworm eggs spread through food, water or – yes – coming into contact with surfaces contaminated by a person’s infected feces, according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. (Wash your hands, people!)
Once in a person’s system, the larvae of the parasite can get into tissues such as a person’s muscles and brain, forming cysts and potentially causing seizures. When they embed within the nervous system, the condition is called neurocysticercosis.
While preventable and treatable, the disease still hospitalizes about 1,000 Americans a year and can be fatal. It’s also expensive: the average charge of hospitalization due to neurocysticercosis was $37,600, the CDC noted.
The man in the recent case had a history of migraines but sought medical treatment after they become more severe and longer-lasting during a four-month period.
Imaging techniques, including both a CT scan and an MRI, revealed multiple cysts within his brain that were confirmed to be the larvae of tapeworms, leading to the neurocysticercosis diagnosis, according to the researchers.
The recent 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.”
The condition is most common in the rural areas of developing countries, especially ones where pigs are a primary source of food and sanitary conditions are poor, the CDC states. However, cysticercosis may become more common in the U.S. as international travel becomes more common, according to the National Library of Medicine.
How undercooked bacon increased the man’s risk tapeworm infection
The larvae of Taenia solium is a tapeworm that most commonly infects pigs, but humans who inadvertently ingest undercooked pork can also be infected.
Though the man in this case “denied eating raw or street food,” the report states that he “admitted to a habit of eating lightly cooked, non-crispy bacon for most of his life.”
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends cooking pork to at least 145 degrees Fahrenheit. That may be difficult to determine in such a thin meat, but those who enjoy the breakfast staple should be in the clear if they cook it until it’s crisp, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Though the man’s preference for soft bacon wasn’t the sole cause of the ailment, the researchers determined that he likely consumed bacon that had gone bad. Since it was undercooked, it made him especially susceptible to the infection.
The physicians involved in the man’s case further speculated that he did not properly wash his hands after using the bathroom.
While little has historically been done to monitor this particular strain of infection in the United States, the CDC said it is ramping up efforts to work with state and local health departments across the country to identify and treat patients.
“Finding and treating people with tapeworm infections will reduce a preventable cause of seizures, help more people live healthy, productive lives, and lead to lower economic burden on health care,” the agency stated.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tapeworm eggs found in man’s brain linked to undercooked bacon
