Have you ever heard of the “tape worm”? That image that evokes the possibility of eating without limits? Well, behind this depiction lies a real parasite known as a tapeworm. Today we will tell you the story of a man who hosted a 6 meter long worm in his intestine.
A tapeworm as a roommate
This man, a 38-year-old from China, had an inordinate passion for beef, so much so that he ate it raw. This eating habit favored the growth of the tapeworm that infested him.
The parasite had settled in the man’s small intestine and remained there for at least two years before doctors identified its presence. The parasite involved in this story belongs to the Taenia saginata species, as reported by The New England Journal of Medicine.
Tapeworm infections are rare in central China, where the case reported by Jian Li, from the infectious diseases department of Renmin Hospital in Shiyan, occurred. In fact, this was the first case of tapeworm observed in that area of China in the last 30 years.
According to Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, the development of tapeworm infections is more common in other parts of the world. In Ethiopia, for example, the consumption of raw meat is a fairly widespread habit and cases of beef tapeworm infection are not rare.
It is important to note that infections with this parasite can cause symptoms such as abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea and weight loss, although they often remain asymptomatic for a long time. The diagnosis of a tapeworm infection is generally based on stool tests or more in-depth diagnostic tests such as endoscopy and is therefore not always easy to detect within a short time frame.
Prevention is always better than cure
To treat tapeworm infections, specific antiparasitic drugs are usually used, which help eliminate the parasite from the intestine. It remains essential to also adopt preventive measures, such as cooking meat properly and following adequate hygiene practices when handling food.
