MRI Finds Tapeworm Larvae in 60-Year-Old Spaniard's Brain After Cancer Scare
Updated
Updated · Ars Technica · Jun 26
MRI Finds Tapeworm Larvae in 60-Year-Old Spaniard's Brain After Cancer Scare
3 articles · Updated · Ars Technica · Jun 26
Summary
Multiple brain lesions in a 60-year-old Spanish man were identified on MRI as encapsulated tapeworm larvae after doctors initially suspected metastatic cancer from his worsening two-week headache and behavioral changes.
CT scans had shown swelling and widespread lesions, while blood work was largely normal except elevated IgE; whole-body CT, colonoscopy and PET/CT then failed to find any malignancy.
MRI revealed the parasites' scolexes, allowing doctors to rule out tumors and diagnose neurocysticercosis, a finding they said was unusual because the man had never traveled abroad and Spain is not endemic for the infection.
Doctors reported in Emerging Infectious Diseases that he may have acquired Taenia solium through rare cryptic transmission years earlier while working construction alongside migrants from endemic regions and sharing meals or bathrooms with an infected coworker.