A 52-year-old man in the United States was found to harbor larvae of Taenia solium, a tapeworm commonly associated with pigs, within his brain. He initially sought medical help after experiencing persistent migraine-like headaches. The case was documented in the American Journal of Case Reports (AJCR).
Taenia solium infections can occur when people ingest eggs or larvae. This condition, taeniasis, typically involves the presence of small, enclosed sacs of worm larvae in the intestines. In rare cases, however, the larvae migrate beyond the gut and form cysts in other tissues, a condition known as cysticercosis. When these cysts reach the nervous system, the disorder is called neurocysticercosis.
Neurocysticercosis often presents with headaches and seizures, a combination that appears in a large share of cases. The severity of symptoms is usually tied to the specific brain areas that are touched by the cysts and the degree of inflammation they provoke.
What surprised clinicians in this instance was the geographic pattern. Neurocysticercosis is most frequently observed in regions with limited sanitation and where pigs may be raised in closer proximity to people. Yet this patient had not traveled far, had not visited pig farms, and resided in a modern, urban home. The absence of obvious exposure broadened the doctors’ awareness that this infection can occur outside traditional risk areas.
Investigations suggested that the brain invasion could reflect a habit of consuming undercooked bacon and incomplete hand hygiene after using the restroom. The medical team proposed that the parasites likely established themselves first in the intestine and then disseminated to the brain, where they formed cystic lesions that caused symptoms.
Treatment relied on antiparasitic medication, which worked to shrink and reduce the size of the brain cysts. As the cysts diminished under therapy, symptoms improved, underscoring the importance of timely diagnosis and appropriate drug regimens in neurocysticercosis management.
A separate clinical observation from Brazil described a patient who presented with a cough and was found to have a manifestation of multiple worm larvae in the lungs. These reports highlight how cysticercosis can affect multiple organ systems and why clinicians consider parasite-related causes in unexpected places.