Today's Medical Mysterie
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The explanation.
Answer: Cysticercosis
Cysticercosis is an infamous parasitic infection caused by ingestion of larval cysts of Taenia Solium, also known as: Pork Tapeworm
The Life Cycle is absolutely wild and sort of complicated but I'm gonna break it down here and hopefully make it easy to understand:
So humans become infected with T. Solium by ingesting cysts that can be found in undercooked pork. After several weeks (usually around 5-12) these cysts evolve within the gastrointestinal tract into mature adult tapeworms. This condition is known as Intestinal Taeniasis.
These adult tapeworms then shed eggs which are in turn excreted into human feces. It’s very important to note that it is only when these eggs are ingested via fecal-oral transmission, that one can develop the clinical syndrome known as of Cysticercosis!
(This next part is crazy)
After the eggs are ingested (humans or pigs) they release larvae which penetrate the intestinal wall and invade into the bloodstream (via mesenteric venules) and from there can spread to literally anywhere in the entire body. The brain, eyes, subcutaneous tissues, and skeletal muscles are the most common destinations. The larvae lodge wherever the end up and ultimately form cysts known as cysticerci.
The hosts inflammatory response typically ends up killing off the cysts, which subsequently undergo calcification, giving them the classic appearance you can appreciate on this CT scan. These are commonly referred to as “rice grain calcifications”.
What can be really bad is when the larvae end up traveling up to the brain and form cysts in actual brain tissue. This specific condition is known as neurocysticercosis. It can lead to headaches, confusion, seizures, and other serious neurologic problems.
The prognosis for cysticercosis is generally good but unfortunately some cases are fatal. It's estimated that around 50 million people worldwide are infected each year resulting in ~50,000 deaths.
Treatment options include anti-parasitic therapy, steroids, anti-epileptics (neurocysticercosis), and surgical removal.
So the moral of the story here is do your best to keep clean, always wash your hands, and never, ever eat raw or undercooked pork.
I hope you learned something. Stay safe out there!
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That's disgusting!!!
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@Klaus That should be in the Dark or Inappropriate Thread!!!!
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@George-K Ewwwww!
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I was working with a neurosurgeon who was extracting some of these cysts from the posterior fossa of a patient's brain.
As he pulled one out, he purposefully let it fall to the floor and yelled "This one's MOVING." The circulating nurse just about fainted.
Of course, it wasn't moving, he just wanted to freak Maryanne out. He succeeded.
Good times.
