Nowadays, it is highly unthought of, as well as unexpected to eat a meal that could possibly leave your body filled with worms, right? Wrong. 46 year old Zhu ZHongfa experienced a traumatic experience from digesting pork that had been under cooked.
The pork had parasitic Taenia Solium eggs that Zhu Zhongfa was unaware of. Due to the lack of knowledge, Zhongfa soon began experiencing seizures on a daily and undergone many fainting episodes that lasted for weeks on end. Unaware of what he had digested Zhongfa after a month of pain, decided to finally go and seek a medical treatment in fear that it could potentially become a life threatening situation.
A month after eating the under cooked, raw pork Zhongfa found himself at a hospital where doctors were able to identify the problem to his recent decline in health. The doctors had revealed that his body was beyond infected with tapeworms and that they were so deeply within that they traveled to his brain, lungs and other parts of his body. The eggs had transpired and begin spreading throughout his body via his bloodstream. Zhongfa discovered that he was in fact infected with more than over 700 pork tapeworms due to eating the raw meal.
Working in a construction area job, Zhongfa had put off getting treatment for the seizures and fainting spells. The spells had gotten so damaging to his body system that he was no longer trusted with operating heavy machinery at work. With Zhongfa growing up in Hangzhou he had dismissed the issues his body was undergoing and in fact did not look for medical advice until he was at the doctors office foaming out of the mouth and losing consciousness of his surroundings.
Doctors were able to confirm that the larvae had entered his bloodstream and traveled throughout his body. Being that the larvae were eggs when he ingested them, they were able to squirm throughout his body tissue and formed cysts. Once the larvae had caused cysts within his body, his body had begin developing an infection called cysticercosis, in which is very dangerous if found located close or even near the brain and nervous system. If the infection had reached his nervous system it could have progressed to neurocysticercosis, which would have been even more damaging. Zhongfa was treated by a doctor named Dr. Huang Jianrong who had derived from the Affiliated Hospital of Zhenjiang University School of Medicine.
Dr. Huang took one look at Zhongfa and was not impressed with the issue he was showcasing in front of him. Dr. Huang immediately sent off for brain and chest MRIs for Zhongfa to cancel out any potential causes. His findings had him in shock as to what was occurring before him. Dr. Huang stated,”He not only had numerous space=occupying lesions in his brain, but he also had cysts in his lungs and chest muscles.” Zhongfa did not hesitate to admit that he indeed digested raw food more than a month ago. This resulted in how vast the worms had spread. Dr. Huang explained that different people can potentially respond different to infections, depending on where the parasites are occupying up space. In the case of Zhongfa, the parasitic tapeworms had invaded his lungs and brain, causing the lost of consciousness and sporadic seizures.
