A 52-year-old U.S. man with a “predilection for undercooked pork” confirmed up at a Florida hospital complaining of brutal migraines, after which docs discovered his mind infested with parasitic tapeworm larvae.The unnamed affected person mentioned his migraines had gotten worse over the earlier 4 months, and have been now occurring “nearly weekly,” in line with the American Journal of Case Stories. He mentioned he hadn’t traveled to any high-risk areas, and that his most up-to-date journey was a cruise to the Bahamas two years prior. The person and his spouse lived with a cat “in a contemporary residence,” and weren’t food-insecure, the report states. It says his vitals have been “unremarkable,” routine lab checks didn’t elevate any pink flags, and a full infectious illness workup got here again detrimental.Nonetheless, a CT scan “revealed quite a few cystic foci… inside the deep cortical and periventricular white matter” of his mind, which physicians thought to be “suspicious,” the case report, which was printed March 7, goes on.“On additional questioning, the affected person denied consuming uncooked or road meals however admitted to a behavior of consuming frivolously cooked, non-crispy bacon for many of his life,” it says.The fluid-filled cysts, subsequent checks confirmed, have been proof of neurocysticercosis, which the case report describes as “a situation attributable to an infection with the larval type of Taenia solium, a pork tapeworm that makes use of pigs as an intermediate host.”Centuries in the past, “the connection between human cysticercosis and pork consumption was plain, and pigs and swine have been seen as impure or unclean all through the traditional world,” the case report explains. “Neurocysticercosis is just about nonexistent in areas of the world which have banned pork consumption, additional highlighting the robust hyperlink between swine and this illness.”Cysticercosis stays widespread in Asia, Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Oceania, although it has tapered off in developed international locations “attributable to excessive scrutiny of meals security and sanitary requirements,” in line with the case report. Nonetheless, elevated mobility by the worldwide inhabitants has introduced a rise in instances to the U.S. and elsewhere.“Early instances have been initially puzzling, corresponding to when members of an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in New York turned contaminated from their houseworkers, who themselves have been Taenia carriers, distancing the illness from direct exposures to swine,” the case report says. “Equally, our affected person lived in the USA and had no current journey to endemic international locations or contact with pigs.”The person’s “lifelong desire for gentle bacon” is probably going the reason for his troubles, though merely consuming undercooked pork would have led to taeniasis—an intestinal tapeworm ensuing from the consumption of undercooked pork containing larval cysts embedded inside the meat—not cysticercosis, in line with the case report. Cysticercosis, however, “is contracted when people ingest eggs discovered within the feces of different people with taeniasis.”“It may solely be speculated,” the case report states, “however given our affected person’s predilection for undercooked pork and benign publicity historical past, we favor that his cysticercosis was transmitted by way of autoinfection after improper handwashing after he had contracted taeniasis himself from his consuming habits.”The CDC recommends washing your fingers properly with cleaning soap and heat water after utilizing the bathroom or altering diapers, and earlier than dealing with meals.The affected person was admitted to the ICU and handled with dexamethasone, an anti-inflammatory, to forestall seizures and mind swelling, and the anti-parasitics albendazole and praziquantel, which stabilized his situation. The affected person “was efficiently handled, with regression of lesions and enchancment of complications,” the case report says.Neurocysticercosis is never seen within the U.S., though consuming uncommon pork “isa theoretical danger issue for neurocysticercosis by way of autoinoculation, as we suspected on this case,” in line with the case report.“The nice variability of signs that neurocysticercosis can current with shouldn’t be understated,” it concludes, “and though it’s a main reason for epilepsy worldwide, it might current with extra subtlety.”Lead writer Dr. Stephen J. Carlan of the Orlando Regional Healthcare System didn’t instantly reply to The Each day Beast’s request for remark.