The hazards of eating undercooked pork have been revealed in a horrifying body scan that shows the parasites that can infect the body via contaminated meat.
Dr Sam Ghali, an urgent care doctor from the University of Florida, took to social media to share an image of a patient with telltale signs of a parasitic infection called cysticercosis.
Cysticercosis occurs when larvae of a species of tapeworm enters tissues like the muscle or even the brain.
They form a hard calcified cyst that can feel like lumps under the skin, and light up as white oval ‘rice grain’ nodules on medical scans.
While unpleasant they are generally harmless — as the larvae don’t survive outside the intestine. However, the cysts can cause problems if they develop in the brain.
Dr Sam Ghali, an American emergency response medic, shared a picture of an unnamed patient with telltale signs of a parasitic infection called cysticercosis
The tapeworm responsible for the infection enters the human body through consumption of its eggs.
These eggs can be found in undercooked pork and can go on to develop into adult tapeworms in people’s guts, but this doesn’t result in cysticercosis directly.
Instead cysticercosis occurs when infected people pass on tapeworm eggs to others, via their faeces.
Writing on X, Dr Ghali said: ‘It’s 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 of cysticercosis.’
This transmission occurs mainly through infected people not washing their hands properly after using the toilet, though the eggs can also be passed through water contaminated with faecal matter.
The species of tapeworm responsible is called Taenia solium (pictured) which can infect people through contaminated faeces and pork products
Once ingested in this way, the eggs release larvae which can pass into the bloodstream and end up in places such as 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 issues if they reach the eyes causing blurry 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 Taenia solium larvae cysts developing in the brain are responsible for up to 70 per cent of epilepsy cases in some parts of the world.
Even more extraordinary infections have been recorded in the past, here is one example from a patient from Brazil
About 2.5million 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’s estimated that around 50 million people worldwide are infected each year resulting in ~50,000 deaths.
‘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.’
While the scan shared by Dr Ghali is typical, cases where patients have hundreds of tapeworm cysts in their body have been recorded.
These include one shocking case in Brazil reported last year.
