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Brain worms can be deadly
khou. ^ | Monday, November 27, 2006 | Janice Williamson

Posted on 11/30/2006 9:25:08 PM PST by dennisw

A potentially fatal disease rarely seen here has popped up in Houston four times in the past two months. It's linked to tapeworms and their eggs.

He ate at mobile kitchens until he found out food contaminated with eggs from a tapeworm almost killed him.

"He's scared now. He's scared of any food from outside," said Marjorie, his daughter & translator.

The tile worker immigrated from El Salvador 20 years ago said early symptoms were subtle.

"It was a mild headache but it wouldn't go away," Marjorie explained. "It was just there and it wouldn't go away with Tylenol."

Doctors at a clinic gave him medicine for high blood pressure.

A few days later Ramirez passed out and didn't wake up for eight days.

"This is a picture of the cyst," said Dr. Aaron Mohanty, a UT Houston Medical School neurosurgeon.

Dr. Mohanty found the cyst with tapeworm larvae in Ramirez's brain.

It's a disease called cysticercosis.

"If they delayed 12 hours, six to 12 hours more he would not have survived," said Dr. Mohanty. "He was deeply unconscious."

This was Mohanty's fourth case in two months of a disease most often seen in developing countries.

"I think it's just a chance factor," said Dr. Mohanty.

In all four patients the UT Houston neurosurgeon removed the cysts through a small incision in the brain.

"The cycle starts with a human that's infected with the tapeworm," said Dr. Luis Ostrosky with the UT Houston Medical School.

Dr. Luis Ostrosky tells us the eggs from a tapeworm are spread by a human host who doesn't practice good hygiene after using the bathroom.

An unsuspecting victim then eats the contaminated food.

"These eggs hatch in the intestine and go through the gutwall and into the circulation and get stuck somewhere," said Dr. Ostrosky.

(Excerpt) Read more at khou.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cysticercosis; health; houston; medicine; parasites; tapeworm; texas; worms
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1 posted on 11/30/2006 9:25:10 PM PST by dennisw
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To: dennisw

Is this another one of those third world freakish diseases that pop up regularly from illegals?


2 posted on 11/30/2006 9:26:48 PM PST by kinoxi
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To: kinoxi

yep


3 posted on 11/30/2006 9:27:45 PM PST by dennisw
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To: dennisw
Dr. Luis Ostrosky tells us the eggs from a tapeworm are spread by a human host who doesn't practice good hygiene after using the bathroom.

This is why YOU MUST WASH YOUR HANDS before and after you go potty...

4 posted on 11/30/2006 9:28:14 PM PST by ColdSteelTalon
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To: dennisw

Add that to tuberculosis and Chagas Disease as part of the price of cheap lettuce.

Speaking of which, was there any substance to that lettuce e-coli scare being caused by illegal alien workers defecating in the lettuce fields or is that being covered up?


5 posted on 11/30/2006 9:28:20 PM PST by sinanju (s)
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To: kinoxi

Yup.


6 posted on 11/30/2006 9:28:33 PM PST by brivette
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To: kinoxi

and in you --if you if you eat "taco wagon" food.


7 posted on 11/30/2006 9:29:12 PM PST by ASOC (The phrase "What if" or "If only" are for children.)
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To: dennisw

I think I just may start thinking twice about eating at restaurants (any restaurant, just look in the kitchen).


8 posted on 11/30/2006 9:30:32 PM PST by sinanju (s)
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To: ASOC
Taco wagon? Do you mean roach coach?
9 posted on 11/30/2006 9:31:43 PM PST by null and void (To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funnybone. --Reba McEntire)
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To: dennisw

They harvest our food and cook our food.


10 posted on 11/30/2006 9:32:14 PM PST by ArtyFO (I love to smoke cigars when I adjust artillery fire at the moonbat loonery.)
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To: dennisw

Silly me. I thought this was going to be about the new House majority!


11 posted on 11/30/2006 9:32:40 PM PST by JEH_Boston
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To: dennisw

I recently saw this on one of those World's Most Extreme type programs. It was disgusting. The person died and the brain was filled with numerous burrows with the head of the tape worm. I forget how they said it migrated to the head and I am not sure they said that it did migrate to the head. I've always understood that our bodies are full of parasites, that parasites are what are responsible for genetic evolution. Far be it from me to know if that is true or not.


12 posted on 11/30/2006 9:34:05 PM PST by Snoopers-868th
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To: Snoopers-868th

This isn't evolution. Some $hit in his food.


13 posted on 11/30/2006 9:35:23 PM PST by kinoxi
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To: ColdSteelTalon
This is why YOU MUST WASH YOUR HANDS before and after you go potty...

And never eat off the roach coach.
14 posted on 11/30/2006 9:36:01 PM PST by Shion (Bring Back John Galt)
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To: dennisw

I'm never eating out again!


15 posted on 11/30/2006 9:36:23 PM PST by StormEye
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To: ArtyFO

Not MY food.....they may harvest SOME of it but, they sure as he** don't cook it.....unless I'm watching exactly what they are doing.


16 posted on 11/30/2006 9:36:35 PM PST by goodnesswins (I think the real problem is islamo-bombia! (Rummyfan))
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To: dennisw

Yuck.


17 posted on 11/30/2006 9:37:08 PM PST by TASMANIANRED (The Internet is the samizdat of liberty..)
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To: ColdSteelTalon
This is why YOU MUST WASH YOUR HANDS before and after you go potty...<<<<

Absolutely, but it's not "we" I'm as worried about, it's "they" who come from places where hygiene isn't always practiced. Needless to say, there are plenty of our home-grown citizens who spread things around, too.

Who can forget that TV expose that showed the guy with the hot dog cart? I can't even walk past one now at Home Depot without feeling queasy.
18 posted on 11/30/2006 9:37:44 PM PST by Mjaye
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To: StormEye
I'm never eating out again!

...must....resist...joke...

19 posted on 11/30/2006 9:38:20 PM PST by Wormwood (Enjoy this post while it lasts!)
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To: dennisw
Brain worms can be deadly

No sh#t, Sherlock.

20 posted on 11/30/2006 9:38:31 PM PST by M. Thatcher
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To: neverdem

PING


21 posted on 11/30/2006 9:38:37 PM PST by FairOpinion
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To: kinoxi

Yep, among others coming soon.


22 posted on 11/30/2006 9:39:27 PM PST by Atchafalaya (When you are there thats the best)
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To: kinoxi

That is not what I meant. The brain thing is disgusting. The parasite thing is too if you stop to think about it. Just like dust mites in your bed. If I think about those things crawling about it makes me itch. So how many times have you been tested for tape worm? I never have. Makes me crawl thinking about it. There is more than this to eating out--the thought that someone might spit in my food is enough to keep me home.


23 posted on 11/30/2006 9:39:32 PM PST by Snoopers-868th
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To: sinanju

I believe they attributed it to wild/feral hogs.


24 posted on 11/30/2006 9:40:17 PM PST by Atchafalaya (When you are there thats the best)
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To: null and void
Small mobile kitchens often seen at constructions sites, fairs and other temporary feeding locations. I grew up in AZ and they sold a lot of tacos, burros and the like. Others had sandwich's, some had hot dogs.

Here in Anchorage, these servers have to prove they have access to full service rest rooms, have hand wash (hot water and all) service and so on.

Still, I will only eat from the one where I personally know the owner/operator. But then I am fussy about restaurants - having worked at KFC, and all my family at one time worked fast food/restaurants - we have all seen the good and bad.

Nothing wrong with the service, just understand the risks.
25 posted on 11/30/2006 9:41:29 PM PST by ASOC (The phrase "What if" or "If only" are for children.)
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To: sinanju
The lettuce e-coli was reported as coming from wild pigs.
26 posted on 11/30/2006 9:43:46 PM PST by steelie (Still Right Thinking)
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To: Luis Gonzalez

Illegal hideous disease alert.


27 posted on 11/30/2006 9:45:10 PM PST by Torie
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To: Snoopers-868th

"the thought that someone might spit in my food"
Be nice to the waiter, tip generously, and never send anything back to the kitchen. And never ask for "well-done" filet mignon;)


28 posted on 11/30/2006 9:45:55 PM PST by Frank_2001
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To: Snoopers-868th
I was in Texas (New Braunfels) about six months ago with a friend. We both got sick at the same time (eating out every night) while driving back through Louisiana. She and I are both fine now but someone screwed with our food at some point. I'm rather hesitant to eat out in general but since that trip I've been rather adamantly against it.
29 posted on 11/30/2006 9:46:24 PM PST by kinoxi
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To: Wormwood
" ... ...must....resist...joke... ..."

...must....resist...joke... about your nickname ... on this thread ...

30 posted on 11/30/2006 9:47:07 PM PST by Rte66
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To: Torie

This poor guy migrated here 20 years ago, and some native-born worm ate his brain?


31 posted on 11/30/2006 9:48:50 PM PST by Luis Gonzalez (Some people see the world as they would want it to be, effective people see the world as it is.)
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To: Frank_2001
Be nice to the waiter, tip generously, and never send anything back to the kitchen. And never ask for "well-done" filet mignon;)

Won't work for me--too many weirdo's today that would spit in your food--just because!! No thanks, I stay home and eat. The food is better anyway.

32 posted on 11/30/2006 9:50:10 PM PST by Snoopers-868th
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To: Wormwood
"...must....resist...joke..."

Oh go ahead and say it! You'll regret missing your 15 minutes of fame the rest of your life!

33 posted on 11/30/2006 9:51:56 PM PST by StormEye
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To: dennisw

This is the most disgusting thing I can imagine. Positively yuck! And what's with "developing countries". What a bunch of b.s. If they were "developing", they'd have already developed proper handwashing procedures. And tapeworms in humans. OMG! I'm going to go douse my pets with their flea poisons right now. Ingested fleas cause tapeworms in cats.


34 posted on 11/30/2006 9:53:35 PM PST by The Westerner
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To: Luis Gonzalez
This poor guy migrated here 20 years ago, and some native-born worm ate his brain?

This was Mohanty's fourth case in two months of a disease most often seen in developing countries.
35 posted on 11/30/2006 9:53:44 PM PST by kinoxi
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To: ColdSteelTalon

Do you have tapeworms? I don't and have never known anyone who has.


36 posted on 11/30/2006 9:54:29 PM PST by The Westerner
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To: The Westerner

Sooooooooooooo, how do you KNOW you don't have a tapeworm?


37 posted on 11/30/2006 9:56:22 PM PST by null and void (To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funnybone. --Reba McEntire)
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To: null and void

I know I don't, but I bet you do.


38 posted on 11/30/2006 9:58:11 PM PST by The Westerner
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To: kinoxi
We agree. You never know what will set someone off. Maybe just a bad day, they want to go home and you came in at the wrong time. Being nice does says nothing (what does that mean to the person who would even consider spitting in food) and tipping good is a moot point because if they spit in your food you can bet the laugh is on you--they person got paid especially good for spitting on your food.

Wasn't it Jesse Jackson that said he used to spit in white peoples food when he worked in a restaurant? And I never forget the scene in Roots where the gal spit in the tea. Just disgusting and couldn't eat if I stopped at a restaurant my gag reflex wouldn't allow it.

39 posted on 11/30/2006 9:58:16 PM PST by Snoopers-868th
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To: dennisw

Every one of those little holes in the brain is the nest of a worm. When they die, their guts spill out and cause inflammation and even seizures.


Here we see the toothy little devil himself.


Here's an explanation of the life cycle. Basically, it is spread by ignorant Turd World savages who crap in their own water supplies at home and don't bother washing their hands in the restroom before they make your restaurant meal here.

-ccm

40 posted on 11/30/2006 9:59:27 PM PST by ccmay (Too much Law; not enough Order.)
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To: Snoopers-868th
Never go bare footed in or around a Motel, especially in the grassy areas around Motels or places where pets may have been 'walked'.

I have a nightmare story that happened to me because I went in and out of my Holiday Inn Motel room bare footed several years ago and picked up a hook worm/heart worm on my feet then slid into bed and it got on the sheet and then burrowed into my back. Because I had just finished a long course of antibiotics (uselessly, as it turned out since I had a viral cold then), the worm burrowed around under my skin without my immune system fighting back until it was on my side and I was scratching the welt like crazy. The liquid methotrexate dosage I was written by an ER Physician was way beyond correct dosage and nearly killed me. If I had not been a pharmaceutical rep and had my own copy of the PDR to consult on dosage, I might have continued taking the medicine until I was too far gone to save. As it was, I was delirious and hallucinating when I finally thought to read the PDR. Another ER physician later removed the hook worm by freezing spray and collecting it on a surgical sponge when it burrowed out to escape the cold. I then had two weeks of sickening meds to kill any possible eggs that might have been 'left behind'. Happened three decades ago but I'll bet the procedures are the same even today for such a fluke.

41 posted on 11/30/2006 10:00:42 PM PST by MHGinTN (If you can read this, you've had life support from someone. Promote life support for others.)
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To: kinoxi

I don't consider Houston a country, and even if I did, and in spite of the fact that it's only been a part of the Union for 145 years, I wouldn't classify it it as a "developing" one.


42 posted on 11/30/2006 10:02:00 PM PST by Luis Gonzalez (Some people see the world as they would want it to be, effective people see the world as it is.)
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To: The Westerner

How do you know you don't?

At 292 lbs I'm pretty sure I don't, but I'm not certain.


43 posted on 11/30/2006 10:02:02 PM PST by null and void (To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funnybone. --Reba McEntire)
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To: goodnesswins

they sure as he** don't cook it.....unless I'm watching exactly what they are doing.

How can you avoid it? I'm curious, as I don't trust them with my food either...


44 posted on 11/30/2006 10:05:03 PM PST by The Worthless Miracle (I think Jamie Dupree is annoying.)
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To: FairOpinion

thanks


45 posted on 11/30/2006 10:05:38 PM PST by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: The Westerner

They say that 50 percent of th population has some kind of parasite. It is believable.


46 posted on 11/30/2006 10:06:05 PM PST by ColdSteelTalon
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To: dennisw

More third world diseases coming to us courtesy of uncontrolled immigration. Have a nice, horrible future everybody. Hope you like incurable Tuberculosis and Whooping Cough too.


47 posted on 11/30/2006 10:06:59 PM PST by Mad_Tom_Rackham (Democracy: The worst form of government, except for all the others.)
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To: dennisw
From the NIH.

In the U.S., laws governing feeding practices and inspection of domestic food animals have largely eliminated the problem of tapeworm.Adequate cooking of meat destroys the tapeworm larvae and will prevent infection by tapeworm. Good hygiene and hand washing after using the toilet will prevent self-infection in a person already infected with tapeworms.

We've spent untold billions over the years to eradicate this type of problem. Sickening.

48 posted on 11/30/2006 10:07:41 PM PST by garandgal
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To: ColdSteelTalon

Maybe they do. But with the excellent medical care in this country, every person should have a complete lower GI workup after a certain age or earlier. And if you have regular exams, you can be sure you're clean inside. What this is really about is lack of proper medical care.


49 posted on 11/30/2006 10:10:21 PM PST by The Westerner
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To: dennisw

Egad. Glad I keep kosher.


50 posted on 11/30/2006 10:11:57 PM PST by Nachum
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