Doctors in China uncover hundreds of tapeworms in man's brain, chest

A 43-year-old Chinese man turned to doctors after suffering several weeks from cramps and loss of consciousness. It turned out that he had hundreds of tapeworms in his brain and chest, 9news reported.

Zhu Zhongfa allegedly ate undercooked pork infected with the parasitic tapeworm Taenia solium.

"Different patients respond [differently] to the infection depending on where the parasites occupy," Dr Huang Jianrong, Zhongfa's doctor at Zhejiang University School of Medicine, told AsiaWire.

According to him, the larvae entered Zhongfa's body and left his digestive tract, making their way into his bloodstream.

Doctors diagnosed him with cysticercosis and neurocysticerosis and he was prescribed an antiparasitic drug and medications to protect his organs from further damage.

Dr Jianrong said his patient was doing well after a week of treatment, however any long term damage is unclear.

Once inside, the eggs hatch in the intestines and migrate to the muscle, where they turn into cysticerci, which can survive for several years. This leads to infection. people if they eat contaminated raw or undercooked beef or pork.

Photo: AsiaWire