Surgeons operated on this New York woman to remove what they suspected was a brain tumor -- and were surprised to find a baby tapeworm in her brain instead.
The Washington Post.Doctors diagnosed Palma with neurocysticercosis, a parasitic infection of the brain that can happen if you swallow the microscopic eggs of the pork tapeworm. It can causeSo how does the infection happen? Those itty-bitty eggs pass through the body of someone who carries an intestinal adult tapeworm infection, via their feces. If that person doesn’t wash their hands properly, they can contaminate surfaces and food with the eggs.
In the United States, neurocysticercosis is incredibly rare -- the tapeworm larvae aren’t found in pork here, so the carrier must have been exposed outside the U.S., says Christina Coyle, MD, a parasitology expert in the Department of Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, who helped write the most recent diagnosis guidelines.
“The suspicion of neurocysticercosis in someone who hasn’t traveled is low,” says Coyle. “We’re talking about a handful of people who’ve acquired it in the U.S.”
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