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Hidden Epidemic: Tapeworms Living Inside People's Brains

discovermagazine.com

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Re: Hidden Epidemic: Tapeworms Living Inside People's Brains

#12

Post by antr »

I read a very similar article not that long ago, and forwarded it to my dad who is a surgeon. He said that tapeworms are very common in developing nations, specially Asia and South America. In "99.9%" of the cases the eggs are digested or the cyst shows up in an organ causing relatively low damage with "easy" extraction possible. Unfortunately, some of those eggs/worms can find their way into the head.

His advice was to cook all meats (be it pork, steak, etc.) well, and to avoid eating raw/uncooked meat. Apparently it reduces the chances of eating a living egg. No more medium-rare burgers for me since then.

Re: Hidden Epidemic: Tapeworms Living Inside People's Brains

#14

Post by yaix »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #6
CodeCube wrote: post #3

Good god, that is horrifying. Did I miss it, or did the article not say how one contracts this? I think I'll steer clear of the pork chops today.

You missed it, though it wasn't explicit: >" The eggs are shed in the infected person’s feces. Pigs swallow these eggs accidentally as they rummage for food on the ground. When the parasite eggs reach a pig’s stomach, larvae hatch and burrow their way into the animal’s bloodstream. Eventually they end up lodged in small blood vessels, typically in the animal’s muscles. There they form cysts and wait until their host…

That's why every pork that is slaughtered will be inspected by a vetarinarian who is looking for these eggs (little white balls).

I remember, when I was a kid, my grandparents had pigs on their farm and when they slaughtered one once a year, some dude with a microscope would come the next day, check it and put a stamp on it.

And I am pretty sure that it is the initial reason why some religions are not allowed to eat pork, a smart move 2k years ago, when there were no microscopes around.

Re: Hidden Epidemic: Tapeworms Living Inside People's Brains

#15

Post by niels_olson »

niels_olson wrote: post #10

The odds of a hacker in the US developing neurocysticercosis is approximately nil. If you would like to promote a slightly more relevant topic for your compadres, please consider upvoting my letter to a patient: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3982796

sigh

Re: Hidden Epidemic: Tapeworms Living Inside People's Brains

#17

Post by cstejerean »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #6
CodeCube wrote: post #3

Good god, that is horrifying. Did I miss it, or did the article not say how one contracts this? I think I'll steer clear of the pork chops today.

You missed it, though it wasn't explicit: >" The eggs are shed in the infected person’s feces. Pigs swallow these eggs accidentally as they rummage for food on the ground. When the parasite eggs reach a pig’s stomach, larvae hatch and burrow their way into the animal’s bloodstream. Eventually they end up lodged in small blood vessels, typically in the animal’s muscles. There they form cysts and wait until their host…

That's how to get regular tapeworms that end up in the intestine. To get cysts in the brain the process is slightly different:

"But sometimes tapeworms take a wrong turn. Instead of going into a pig, the eggs end up in a human. This can occur if someone shedding tapeworm eggs contaminates food that other people then eat. When the egg hatches, the confused larva does not develop into an adult in the human’s intestines. Instead, it acts as it would inside a pig. It burrows into the person’s bloodstream and gets swept through the body. Often those parasites end up in the brain, where they form cysts."

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