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Egg-sized cyst on thigh gives man nasty surprise

Anyone who likes to eat raw pork, beware. Last month, a 31-year-old Aboriginal only identified by his Chinese surname Peng (彭) discovered a hard swelling on the inside of his left thigh.

Doctors cut open his leg to reveal a cyst the size of an egg, and said it was caused by Taenia solium, or the pork tapeworm, which could have entered the man's body through eating raw pork.

Peng confirmed that over the past two years he had eaten raw pork on a number of occasions but said he would stop doing so.

Chen Tai-chi (陳太期) a surgeon at Minsheng Hospital in Taoyuan, said that the pork tapeworm is a parasite common to man and domesticated animals.

The most common way of contracting it is through eating pork that has not been properly cooked or that has been improperly refrigerated, Chen said adding that it can also enter the body by drinking contaminated water.

People with adult tapeworms in their small intestine can also autoinfect themselves by vomiting, which pushes eggs into the stomach. When the eggs then return to the intestines, the worms hatch and can migrate into the skeletal muscles, heart, eyes and even the brain and spinal cord.

Once there, they form small encapsulated cysts containing the worm that can prove fatal.
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