The grizzly creature was capture on the X-ray (Image: Getty Images/Science Photo Library RF)
Gruesome X-ray images show a man riddled with tapeworm eggs after a dire error in the kitchen led to a parasitic invasion.
Sam Ghali, an Assistant Professor in Emergency Medicine at the University of Florida, took to social media platform X, previously known as Twitter, to share harrowing images of a patient’s battle with tapeworms in an informative post. He described the X-rays as some of the “most insane X-rays I’ve ever seen”.
In a video, Dr Ghali showed the lower torso of a man speckled with numerous white dots, which he identified as calcified tapeworm eggs. The parasites had entered the man’s body and laid their nauseating brood in the soft tissue surrounding his pelvis due to a critical blunder while preparing food.
Dr Ghali explained in the footage that the affliction, termed “cysticercosis” stems from the “larval cyst of taenia solium, also known as the pork tapeworm”. He highlighted that these cysts can migrate “throughout the entire body”, particularly embedding themselves in the muscle and soft tissue of the hips and legs.
This condition arises when individuals consume undercooked or raw pork, reports .
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The doctor shared the X-ray on X, saying it was one of the most bizarre things he’d ever seen (Image: X)
He added: “These cysts can travel anywhere throughout the entire body, heavily to the muscular and soft tissue of the hips and the legs. This condition comes from when the patient eats undercooked, or raw, pig. If just in the pelvis, they don’t pose a life-threatening problem. The problem is if they travel to the brain and lodge there.
“That can cause very serious issues. As you can imagine, that can lead to neurological symptoms like headaches, confusion, seizures and even death. The moral of the story is never eat raw pork.”
The doctor’s stark warning sent shivers down the spines of his online audience, sparking a wave of reactions from netizens who were torn between feelings of revulsion and appreciation for his clear-cut advice.
The study of Tapeworm infection is caused by ingesting food or water contaminated with tapeworm eggs or larvae in laboratory. (Image: Getty Images)
One social media user confessed: “I’ve literally have boneless pork chops thawing in the sink right now. Not showing this to the wife.”
Another chimed in with relief: “I was looking and thinking WTH….and Thank Goodness you said ‘pork’! I was so worried you were about to say it was caused by Raw cookie dough!”
A content commenter remarked: “Good thing I don’t eat pork….phew pays to be a picky eater.”
Tape worms are notorious for burrowing deep into human bodies when their eggs are ingested through meat, leading to harrowing incidents such as one where a man found a worm in his brain after seeking medical help.
This chilling case from 2014 involved an anonymous 50 year old who had been unknowingly hosting the parasite for possibly a decade. He initially sought medical attention in 2008 due to headaches, seizures, and loss of memory and smell, only to have the “10 cm ribbon-shaped larval worm” extracted from his brain in 2012.
According to Genome Biology journal, he fortunately made a complete recovery post-removal.