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Doctors Find Tapeworm Inside British Man’s Brain, First In U.K.

A British man of Chinese descent traveled to China and after returning to the United Kingdom, he began to experience symptoms including headaches, which caused doctors at Addenbrookes Hospital, in Cambridge, to treat him for tuberculosis, but when he returned, “he had new symptoms,” according to Dr. Effrossyni Gkrania-Klotsas, as a tapeworm inside of his brain was pushing on a new part of his brain which caused a weakness in his legs and seizures.

It was realized in 2013 that the man’s condition was the result of a Spirometra tapeworm infection. My Fox 8 reports there are three types of tapeworms which can readily infect the brain. According to Helena Helmby from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the pork tapeworm is the one which most often invades the brain.

It’s mainly the pork tapeworm that’s the main brain one […] Because it’s such a rare infection it’s not economically viable to create a drug for this worm […] But by comparing it to other tapeworms we can see which other drugs might apply.

When it was discovered that the patient was infected, the first time that particular form of tapeworm had been seen in the United Kingdom, doctors moved quickly to surgically remove the parasite.

There have been a mere 300 infections recorded of the parasitic tapeworm, known as Spirometra erinaceieuropaei, between 1953 and 2013, however, they’re thought to be more common in parts of Asia where the rural nature of the affected populations translates into very little knowledge of the worms. Hayley Bennett from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, who is part of a team who recently sequenced the genome of the rare worm, called the worm “pretty mysterious.”

These worms are pretty mysterious […] We know it has a very complicated life cycle. […] The larvae can encyst in the brain or somewhere else […] Because it’s such a rare infection it’s not economically viable to create a drug just for this worm […] But by comparing it to other tapeworms we can see which other drugs might apply.

The patient in Cambridge who was infected with the parasite had recently traveled to China where he was thought to have accidentally consumed water whilst swimming in a lake which was infected with the parasite, according to Gkrania-Klotsas.

While infections from pork tapeworms are common, they can be treated with antihelminthic drugs which target the worm. Up until now, treatment for the type of worm that infected the British patient, Spirometra, have been surgical, however, recent genetic insights acquired by Bennett’s team have found that some drugs, such as praziqantil and certain drugs used in cancer treatment, could have an effect.

Helmby indicated that the need to treat these infections existed and Gkrania-Klotsas said that he was “confident there will be more of this in the future,” as people were “getting infections without going anywhere.”

Do you think it’s time for pharmaceutical companies to develop a drug aimed at combating the Spirometra brain worm?

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