His migraines came from a worm swallowed while eating cold meats: a man becomes a rare case in a scientific journal

Le ver se nichait dans son cerveau. American journal of case reports.

Le cas d'un homme âgé de 52 ans est rentré dans la célèbre revue American journal of case reports le 7 mars 2024. Après avoir mangé de la charcuterie, il s'était retrouvé avec un parasite dans le cerveau. 

He will never forget to cook his bacon again. A 52-year-old American man underwent surgery after suffering from migraines for several months. At the origin of these ailments, a tapeworm, a parasite generally present in raw meat, which had developed in his brain, reports American journal of case reports. 

Intense migraines

The fifty-year-old already suffered from obesity, type 2 diabetes and migraines. But these became more and more painful. For four months, he suffered from quite debilitating headaches, getting worse day by day. 

He decided to consult doctors, who after a few examinations, found that a worm was nestling inside his skull.&nbsp ;

Larvae in the bacon ?

The man told doctors that he regularly consumed undercooked bacon, a bad habit which could well be responsible for his situation. This is how this tapeworm lodged in his brain, a pathology called "neurocysticercosis by autoinfection", in medicine . 

The journal notes that this diagnosis can sometimes be difficult to consider, "especially if there is a known underlying neurological disease such as migraine& ;quot;. 

Taenia solium

The fifty-year-old was infected with a "Taenia solium, a pork tapeworm that uses pigs as an intermediate host". "Humans become infected when they ingest water or food contaminated with tapeworm eggs", explains the scientific journal. 

Next, "neurocysticercosis occurs when Taenia solium eggs integrate into the nervous system" . This type of pathology can prove fatal, warns the publication.