A worm lived in a man’s head near his brain for four years, according to a new study that also determined the parasite had an incredibly long genome. The research, conducted at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, reveals the genetic secrets of the elusive parasite with origins in the Far East. It’s a tapeworm known as Spirometra erinaceieuropaei that no human would want as a guest.
According to The Guardian, The worm causes sparganosis, meaning inflammation of the body’s tissues in response to the parasite. When this occurs in the brain, it can result in seizures, memory loss and headaches. Thankfully the UK man lived to tell the tale and is now doing well. It is thought that people may become infected with the worm by accidentally consuming tiny infected crustaceans from lakes, eating raw meat from reptiles and amphibians, or by using a raw frog poultice, which is a Chinese remedy to calm sore eyes. Before the nearly ½-inch-long parasite was diagnosed in the man and successfully removed by surgery, it had traveled 2 inches from the right side of the man’s brain to the left. It’s little wonder that the victim reported suffering from headaches. The tapeworm was reserved for the later genome sequencing.
According to the report, “For this uncharted group of tapeworms, this is the first genome to be sequenced and has allowed us to make some predictions about the likely activity of known drugs,” said Matt Berriman, senior author and a faculty member of the Sanger Institute.
