In the United States, a man suffered from chronic migraines. After an X-ray, doctors discovered the presence of larvae in his brain. The man had eaten undercooked pork.
The American Journal of Case Reports, an American scientific journal, presented a particular case on Thursday March 7. An American went to doctors in Florida last November. He had suffered from recurring migraines for 4 months. The nursing staff decided to carry out tests to detect the origin of these severe headaches.
Medical imaging showed the presence of two white spots in his brain. These masses were cysts caused by tapeworm larvae. The presence of these parasites in the brain causes an infection of the central nervous system, called neurocysticercosis.
It remains to be understood how these larvae were able to infect the patient. The man assures that he has not been to “high-risk areas”, apart from a cruise in the Bahamas two years earlier.
He liked undercooked bacon
The reason is quite different. “When questioned, the patient denied eating raw foods, but he admitted to having been in the habit of eating undercooked bacon for most of his life,” the doctors note in the journal.
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According to the website of WHOinfection can be caused by “the consumption of raw, poorly cooked or contaminated meat”, and in particular pork, but also by “the ingestion of water contaminated by tapeworm eggs” or too bad hygiene.
If the scientists of the American Journal of Case Reports decided to publicize this case today, it is to point out an important aspect: “This case illustrates the fact that neurocysticercosis must be considered (…) even in “absence of obvious risk factors.”