Man complains of headaches; Doctors find 700 tapeworms in brain as he had undercooked pork

International

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Zhejiang, Nov 22: In a medical case that has emerged from China's Zhejiang province, a 43-year-old Zhu Zhong-fa, was found to have taeniasis, a parasitic disease due to infection with 700 tapeworms present in his lungs, chest after he had complained of persistent headaches and seizures.

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Tapeworms usually enter the body if the host has consumed tapeworm eggs from infected meat that hasn't been cooked properly.

Zhong-fa, from Hangzhou in east China, was taken to a hospital after he was suffering from the symptoms for almost a month.

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After his medical checkup was done, Dr Wang Jian-rong from the department of infectious disease found out that he had taeniasis.

According to him, the worms have already caused considerable damage to Zhu's organs.

A complete scan of his major organs was done thereafter, the results of which shocked the entire medical staff of the hospital.

Scans revealed the man had as many as 700 tapeworms in his brain, chest, and lungs.

Zhu then recalled that he had the hotpot about a month ago and might not have cooked the meat thoroughly.

"If it's undercooked, the tapeworm eggs will stay alive when ingested. And if you have had the uncooked meat, there's a chance that the tapeworms can travel through the body and inflict different diseases," Dr Wang said further.

According to World Health Organisation , tapeworms are introduced to the human body by eating tapeworm eggs that are usually present in pork that has not been cooked properly. The eggs can get into the central nervous system and cause neurological disorders like headaches and seizures.

But according to the National Healthcare System (NHS), the condition occurs only when a certain type of tapeworm egg is swallowed.