This man has had headaches for years. This is what the doctors removed from his brain

The unpublished full-name man arrived at the hospital after fainting in the middle of a football game. An MRI test revealed what had been hidden in his brain for a decade

This man has had headaches for years. This is what the doctors removed from his brain

A man from Austin, Texas, suffered for nearly a decade from severe headaches that included nausea and vomiting. By the time he passed out in the middle of a football field, he realized he couldn't avoid them anymore and went for tests. An MRI test revealed the cause of the terrible pain - a 4 cm parasitic worm that settled in his brain.

Parasitic infections are not very rare, but if one reaches the brain it is about as rare as it is disgusting. Dr. Jordan Amadio, a neurologist at the University of Texas' Del Stone Medical Center, who treated the man - named Gerardo - said the current case is "exceptionally rare."

When do you have to go to a doctor because of a headache

After complex surgery, the man no longer suffers from headaches. He returned to work and he feels good. He does not know where the worm is infected, but together with his doctors he estimated that the rare brain infection called neurocysticarrhosis came from eating pork in Mexico. It is interesting to know that parasitic worms were also found in his sister's mind a few years ago.

Man's brain scan (screenshot)

Brain MRI (Photo: Screenshot)

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US, the CDC, “Humans can become infected with these worms by eating beef or cooked pork. People who have an infection may not know that they have a worm infection because most of the symptoms are mild or non-existent. "

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Neurocystosis affects about 4,000 people a year in the United States, making it the common way in which parasites infect the central nervous system. The parasitic worm Taenia Solium often infects pigs, laying larvae on them. If meat is not cooked properly, humans can eat these larvae, and they hatch in the gut. These larvae develop into a kind of cysts, which can roam the body and in rare cases can reach the brain, as in Gerardo's. "They can grow inside the body without causing symptoms until they are large enough."