The infection is treated with albendazole or praziquantel (drugs used to treat parasitic worm infections, called antihelminthic drugs). However, if a person has many cysts, antihelminthic drugs may kill many organisms, causing the brain to swell significantly.
How long can a tapeworm live in your brain?
The Spirometra tapeworm can live in humans for up to 20 years. A man in China experienced seizures and other mysterious symptoms for years before doctors finally found the cause: He had a rare parasite living in his brain, which had likely been there for more than a decade, according to news reports.
What happens if tapeworm reaches brain?
Doctors diagnosed Palma with neurocysticercosis, a parasitic infection of the brain that can happen if you swallow the microscopic eggs of the pork tapeworm. It can cause seizures and even death.
Can tapeworms infect the brain?
Parasites - Cysticercosis Cysticercosis is a parasitic tissue infection caused by larval cysts of the tapeworm Taenia solium. These larval cysts infect brain, muscle, or other tissue, and are a major cause of adult onset seizures in most low-income countries.
How does a tapeworm get into the brain?
People get infected with the parasite from ingesting the eggs of pork tapeworms (Taenia solium) in undercooked or infected pork. Those eggs can then hatch in the body, become larvae and travel around the body, including to the brain where they form cysts.
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