As of: March 13, 2024, 11:49 a.m
By: Vivian Werg
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A man seeks medical attention after his chronic headaches become more frequent.
They were probably triggered by a food habit.
Orlando – Headaches are widespread and can severely limit the quality of life of many sufferers.
In mild cases you can get rid of them with effective tricks.
Anyone who prefers to take tablets when they have symptoms should be careful, as taking painkillers incorrectly can promote chronic headaches.
For a 52-year-old Florida man who suffered from constant migraines, the pain became increasingly unbearable.
After his symptoms worsened over the past four months and his usual medications no longer worked, he went to the local hospital in Orlando.
Doctors discovered that the patient was not suffering from severe migraines as expected.
But was struggling with a bizarre tapeworm infestation in his brain - caused by eating undercooked meat, reports
The Mirror
.
Man complains of severe migraine headaches - but doctors make a different diagnosis
The patient therefore reported a habit of eating undercooked bacon.
The doctors assumed that the patient might have contracted neurocysticercosis, a parasitic infection.
As the
American Journal of Case Reports
writes, CT and MRI scans confirmed the diagnosis.
The affected person was found to have multiple cysts on both sides of his brain.
These were caused by a pork tapeworm that had laid eggs in the patient's brain, which irritated the tissue under his skull.
A man who constantly suffered from migraines had a live worm found in his brain (symbolic image) © Andrea Warnecke/dpa
“This clinical picture is non-specific and can easily be overlooked, especially if there is a known underlying neurological disease such as migraine,” write the experts.
“This case highlights that neurocysticercosis should be considered when an existing neuropathological disease has an altered presentation or requires a change in therapeutic treatment, even in the absence of obvious risk factors,” it continued.
Bacon gone bad caused parasitic infestation in the brain
According to experts, the “lifelong preference for soft bacon” was not the sole cause of the specific complaints.
Rather, the breakfast favorite had gone bad, with undercooking making the man particularly vulnerable.
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), there are between 1,320 and 5,050 cases of neurocysticercosis each year in the United States.
After the diagnosis, the 52-year-old was treated accordingly with antiparasitic and anti-inflammatory medications.
Meanwhile, a patient from Canberra was found to have an eight-centimeter-long worm during brain surgery - after she had previously complained of stomach pain, cough and forgetfulness.
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Neurocysticercosis: How you can become infected
Cysticercosis is a disease caused by infection with the larval form of Taenia solium, a pork tapeworm.
Pigs are used as intermediate hosts.
According to experts, people become infected when they consume water or food contaminated with tapeworm cysts.
Neurocysticercosis can be contagious.
The US Department of Health and Human Services agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), warns that those affected who do not wash their hands thoroughly after defecation can spread the eggs to other members of their household.
(vw)