The dangers of eating undercooked pork have been revealed in a horrifying body scan showing the parasites that can infect the body via contaminated meat.
Dr. Sam Ghali, an emergency physician from the University of Florida, took to social media to share a photo of a patient with clear signs of a parasitic infection called cysticercosis.
Cysticercosis occurs when larvae of a species of tapeworm invade tissues such as the muscle or even the brain.
They form a hard calcified cyst that can be felt as lumps under the skin, and light up as white oval ‘rice grain’ nodules on medical scans.
Although they are unpleasant, they are generally harmless – as the larvae do not survive outside the intestine. However, the cysts can cause problems if they develop in the brain.
Dr. Sam Ghali, an American emergency physician, shared a photo of an unnamed patient with clear signs of a parasitic infection called cysticercosis
The tapeworm responsible for the infection enters the human body through ingestion of its eggs.
These eggs can be found in undercooked pork and can develop into adult tapeworms in people’s intestines, but it does not result in cysticercosis directly.
Instead, cysticercosis occurs when infected people pass tapeworm eggs to others via their feces.
Dr. Ghali wrote the X and said: ‘It is very important to note that it is only when these eggs are ingested via faecal-oral transmission that one can develop the clinical syndrome known as cysticercosis.’
This transmission occurs mainly when infected people do not wash their hands properly after using the toilet, although the eggs can also pass through water contaminated with faeces.
The responsible species of tapeworm is called Taenia solium (pictured), which can infect humans through contaminated faeces and pork products
When ingested in this way, the eggs release larvae, which can pass into the bloodstream and end up in places like the muscles or other organs.
Here they are killed by the body’s immune system and form hard cysts.
Headaches and even seizures are common when the cysts enter the brain, as well as confusion, dizziness and a potentially fatal condition called hydrocephalus, an excess of fluid in the brain.
Surgery is usually required to remove the cysts in these cases.
Cysts can also cause problems if they reach the eyes, causing blurred or disturbed vision and potentially triggering an infection.
The cysts themselves may only develop months or years after the initial infection with the tapeworm eggs.
The tapeworm that can cause cysticercosis is a species called Taenia solium, also known as the pork tapeworm.
The World Health Organization estimates that cysts from Taenia solium larvae that develop in the brain are responsible for up to 70 percent of epilepsy cases in some parts of the world.
Even more extraordinary infections have been recorded in the past, here is an example from a patient from Brazil
About 2.5 million people are thought to be infected with Taenia solium per year, most frequently in the poorer regions of Asia, South America and Eastern Europe.
Dr. Ghali added: ‘The prognosis for cysticercosis is generally good, but unfortunately some cases are fatal. It is estimated that around 50 million people worldwide become infected each year, resulting in ~50,000 deaths.
“So the moral of the story here is do your best to stay clean, always wash your hands, and never eat raw or undercooked pork.”
While the scan, which Dr. Ghali shares, typically, there are recorded cases where patients have hundreds of tapeworm cysts in the body.
These include a shocking case in Brazil that was reported last year.