A tapeworm infestation was discovered in the brains of a man suffering from chronic headaches and mysterious seizures.
Researchers in Massachusetts discovered the grueling find last week. They found that the man had an An. “altered mental state”Due to the tapeworms which had successfully inserted themselves into his brain 20 years ago.
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MAN WAS “SPEAKING GIBBERISH”
The 38-year old Guatemalan national, who is not being identified, recently immigrated to America. He was subject to evaluation following the seizure that brought him to this country. “speaking gibberish.”
The New England Journal of Medicine published these findings last week. The results were published after Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital researchers began investigating the man’s mysterious symptoms.
After observing the man’s generalized tonic-clonic seizures, the researchers concluded that he had contracted the tapeworm from a rural Guatemalan household.
Although the man had his eyes open and a slight upward gaze, the man was disoriented and combative before his hospital arrival. He did not respond verbally to requests or cues.
Doctors were alarmed because the man had no medical history and no drug or medication use. Also, he rarely drank alcohol.
Instead they prescribed two doses of Lorazepam intravenously, seven minutes apart. The tube was placed for airway protection.
EEG SCANS OR CT ARE VERY FEWLY USED BY DOCTORS IN THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT.
After a chest radiograph was taken and everything was normal, the doctors ruled out hyponatremia and renal dysfunction.
The doctors then checked his vitals, and found that his urine and serum toxicology panels were both negative.
Dr. Andrew Cole wrote that the man had undergone a CT scan to check for brain lesions.
“It is likely that this patient underwent CT after arrival and stabilization in the emergency department, but if the CT study was negative, MRI would ultimately help us to carefully assess for a causative anatomical abnormality,”Cole wrote.
Even the doctors had to perform an EEG, which is very rare in an emergency room.
“The patient had evidence of three brain lesions, with one showing ring enhancement on MRI and all three showing partial calcification on CT,” Dr. George Eng wrote.
“The calcifying progression of the lesions may account for the absence of antibody positivity in this patient.”
“In addition, tests for antibodies against toxoplasma, Strongyloides, and treponema were negative, as were an interferon-gamma release assay and a purified protein derivative tuberculin skin test for tuberculosis,” Eng said.
After discovering that he had lesions caused by tapeworms, the man was put on a six-week-long regimen of albendazole, high-dose prednisone and praziquantel.
The tapering was continued for four more weeks and he was released five days later.
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