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Doctors find larvae in woman's brain

A 4cm tapeworm was found inside the brain of a Hualien County woman after she complained of severe headaches and epileptic seizures, doctors at Hualien's Tzu chi Hospital said.

The 46-year-old woman, surnamed Lin, had been diagnosed as suffering from migraines before turning to the Buddhist hospital on Feb. 8, tumor specialist Chiu Tsung-lang (邱琮朗) said.

After an MRI scan found a ping-pong ball-sized tumor in the left hemisphere of her brain, Lin had surgery to remove the tumor and recovered sufficiently to leave the hospital on Sunday.

The woman had been complaining of headaches for more than a year. Four months ago, she began having epileptic seizures, loss of memory and other symptoms.

Upon opening up the tumor, doctors found the calcified remains of larvae from Spirometra mansoni, a species of tapeworm. The condition, cerebral sparganosis, is extremely rare, with less than 20 documented cases in Taiwan.

Chiu, who performed the surgery, speculated that the woman might have picked up the parasite while drinking untreated mountain spring water or eating raw pork. Other possible sources of contamination include freshwater fish and shrimp and raw frogs.

Although it is extremely rare to find Spirometra mansoni larvae in the brain, the larvae themselves are not uncommon. In most cases of infestation, the larvae lodge in muscle.

Chiu recommended avoiding untreated water or uncooked freshwater fish, shrimp, frogs and raw pork in order to avoid accidentally ingesting larvae.
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