Sushi is a staple meal for thousands, but for one man, it nearly ended his life after worms took over his body.

An x-ray revealed the Chinese man’s insides were crawling with tapeworm parasites because the raw fish he ate had been contaminated.

The man from Guangdong province had earlier gone to a hospital complaining of stomach pains, before the horrific find.

Doctors believe some of the uncooked fish was to blame.

Wikipedia describes tapeworm as “the infection of the digestive tract by adult parasitic flatworms called cestodes or tapeworms.

“Live tapeworm larvae (coenuri) are sometimes ingested by consuming undercooked food. Once inside the digestive tract, a larva can grow into a very large adult tapeworm.”

This type of infection is life-threatening once it reaches the brain.

Luckily, doctors at the Guangzhou No. 8 People’s Hospital were able to save the man.