This is the disgusting and shocking scene which awaited medics giving an X-ray to a man whose body was filled with parasitic tapeworm eggs. The unusual situation arose after the man in question made a grave kitchen mistake, which led to the parasites taking root in his body.
The picture was posted on X, formerly Twitter, by University of Florida Assistant Professor in Emergency Medicine, Sam Ghali. The shocking snaps in the educational post show the patient’s experience with a tapeworm infection. He said it was one of the “most insane X-rays I’ve ever seen”.
The Mirror reports he posted a video with running commentary showing a man’s lower torso mottled with small white dots, which he explained were dozens of calcified tapeworm eggs. The parasites had made his way into their body and deposited their sickening payload in soft tissue around the man’s pelvis after he made a severe misstep while cooking.
Dr Ghali said in the video that the condition, known as “cysticercosis” was caused by the “larval cyst of taenia solium, also known as the pork tapeworm”. He said the cysts can travel “throughout the entire body”, adding they burrow into muscular and soft tissue after people eat undercooked or raw pig.
He added: “These cysts can travel anywhere throughout the entire body, heavily to the muscular and soft tissue of the hips and the legs. This condition comes from when the patient eats undercooked, or raw, pig. If just in the pelvis, they don’t pose a life-threatening problem. The problem is if they travel to the brain and lodge there.
“That can cause very serious issues. As you can imagine, that can lead to neurological symptoms like headaches, confusion, seizures and even death. The moral of the story is never eat raw pork.” The doctor’s reveal unsettled people following his commentary online, with commenters divided between expressing their disgust and commending him for his succinct explanation.
One social media user said: “I’ve literally have boneless pork chops thawing in the sink right now. Not showing this to the wife.” Another added: “I was looking and thinking WTH….and Thank Goodness you said “pork”! I was so worried you were about to say it was caused by Raw cookie dough!”
One relieved user said: “Good thing I don’t eat pork….phew pays to be a picky eater.” Tape worms have been known to penetrate deep into people’s bodies after they consume meat containing their eggs, with one distressing case seeing a man discover one worm in his brain after visiting doctors. The gruesome 2014 discovery in the unnamed 50-year-old’s head was made by doctors.
They concluded the parasite had lived there for up to 10 years before it was detected. He had visited doctors in 2008 after suffering headaches, seizures, memory and sense of smell loss, and had the “10 cm ribbon-shaped larval worm” removed in 2012, before going on to make a full recovery, the Genome Biology journal revealed.
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