Eew! This is really creepy.
A 50yr old British Man had been having memory problems not knowing a
1cm parasite had found a home in the right side of his brain!
How did it get there? (still having goose-bumps)
This worm can get into the system when someone eats infected food or
through some Chinese therapy for sore eyes that involves "a raw frog".
According to Mail online:
Dr Effrossyni Gkrania-Klotsas, study author from the department of
infectious disease at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, said: "We
did not expect to see an infection of this kind in the UK, but global
travel means that unfamiliar parasites do sometimes appear."
Writing in the Genome Biology journal, scientists revealed that the
patient went to hospital in 2008 suffering from headaches, seizures,
altered smell ability, memory flashbacks and problems, plus increasing
pain on his right-hand side.
Over the next four years he was tested for diseases including HIV,
tuberculosis, lime disease and syphilis after MRI scans showed lesions
in his brain.
Scientists at St Thomas' Hospital in London finally diagnosed his
affliction after taking a biopsy of his brain.
The tiny tapeworm, Spirometra erinaceieuropaei, was identified by a
team of scientists led by Dr Hayley Bennett, from the Wellcome Trust
Sanger Institute, which mapped its genome.
It has only been reported 300 times in the last 60 years, the
scientists said. It is rare but most commonly found in South East
Asia, China and Japan.
!!!!
