After sushi eating thousands of tapeworms in the body

Patient with tapeworms throughout the body - Raw fish the cause

09/26/2014

Physicians have discovered thousands of tapeworms in the body of a Chinese patient who visited the Guangzhou City Canton Clinic with abdominal pain and itchy skin. As reported by the English daily The Daily Mail, tapeworms have spread to almost the entire patient's organism. The cause was the consumption of sushi or raw fish.

Raw fish may in principle contain larvae of the fish tapeworm - so-called plerozoids - which normally grow up in the intestine to adult fish tapeworms after ingestion. Occasionally, however, the tapeworm larvae penetrate into other tissue and spread out there. This has apparently happened in the case of the Chinese patient. With the help of imaging techniques, the physicians were able to visualize the tapeworm infection in the tissue of the patient. Thousands of tapeworms can be recognized in the pictures. Presumably, the man had infected himself with contaminated sashimi - a particularly exquisite form of sushi.

Fish tapeworms, with a maximum length of 20 meters, are the largest parasite that infests humans. However, they reach their adult form only in the body, where they can survive for more than 20 years. Often there are hardly any complaints during the infection - at least as long as the tapeworm limits its life to the intestinal area. Possible symptoms here are, for example, a general weakness, dizziness and diarrhea. If the larvae of the tapeworm penetrate into surrounding tissue and spread out there, however, this leads to considerable discomfort and can in the worst case be fatal. The Chinese patient was quite lucky in view of the massive infestation in his organism here, that no more serious health impairments have occurred.

Raw fish often cause tapeworm infections
Due to the increasing popularity of sushi and sashimi, the number of comparable tapeworm infections has steadily increased in recent years, the British daily reports. The Japanese delicacies here carry a not to be underestimated risk, because the consumption of raw or uncooked fish can lead to a variety of parasitic infections. However, other popular dishes, such as raw beef carpaccio, are also at increased risk for tapeworm infections, with the potential for so-called cysticercosis when the tapeworm larvae attach to organs, muscles, subcutaneous tissue, or the brain. The Chinese patient is now on the mend after the horror diagnosis, reports the Daily Mail. He is being treated with an anthelminthic (anti-worm agent) medication and can hope for a complete cure. (Fp)