A man from China with “ a history of eating raw beef ” became the dwelling of a 6 - meter - foresighted ( 20 - foot - long ) tapeworm , harmonize to a eccentric report recently write online inThe New England Journal of Medicine .
After two geezerhood of stomach aches , want of appetite and chronicanemia , the man ’s symptom suddenly exacerbate with serious abdominal pain , vomiting , impuissance and rapid weight loss . The worsening of his wellness force him to go to the doctor , where they quickly have-to doe with him to the Department of Infectious Diseases at Renmin Hospital in Shiyan , China .
Although a physical examination read nothing too unexpected , they did find an oncosphere – the larval mannequin of a cestode – in his poop sample .
The doctors gave the man praziquantel and mannitol , an antiparasitic drug and cathartic drug , respectively . This combination first paralyzes the worm and then " flushes " it out of the soundbox by bucket along up defecation .
The guilty tapeworm . Credit : The New England Journal of Medicine
establish on an examination of the worm and , of course of instruction , his penchant for eat raw beef , the doctors diagnosed the homo with abeef tapeworm(Taenia saginata ) contagion . tapeworm infix the body as nut or larvae onboard contaminated food , in particularraw or undercooked meat , where they travel down to the little bowel and attach themselves to its wall . They can live there for years , often causing no more than a mother wit of fullness and sickness .
Jian Li , one of the doctors who diagnosed the military personnel , toldLive Sciencethat tapeworms are actually middling rarefied in central China where this case was reported . While the northwesterly and southwestern territory of China have a high charge per unit of cestode infection , there have n’t been any reports of tapeworm in central China for 30 years . Tapeworms are rare throughout theUnited States and Europe , with contagion rates much higher in developing countries .
Three month later , the human was reportedly back to full wellness and had regained his appetency for food – hopefully that does n’t include rude beef anymore .
