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 ...
Is this another one of those third world freakish diseases that pop up regularly from illegals?
yep
This is why YOU MUST WASH YOUR HANDS before and after you go potty...
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?
Yup.
and in you --if you if you eat "taco wagon" food.
I think I just may start thinking twice about eating at restaurants (any restaurant, just look in the kitchen).
They harvest our food and cook our food.
Silly me. I thought this was going to be about the new House majority!
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.
This isn't evolution. Some $hit in his food.
I'm never eating out again!
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.
Yuck.
...must....resist...joke...
No sh#t, Sherlock.
PING
Yep, among others coming soon.
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.
I believe they attributed it to wild/feral hogs.
Illegal hideous disease alert.
"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;)
...must....resist...joke... about your nickname ... on this thread ...
This poor guy migrated here 20 years ago, and some native-born worm ate his brain?
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.
Oh go ahead and say it! You'll regret missing your 15 minutes of fame the rest of your life!
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.
Do you have tapeworms? I don't and have never known anyone who has.
Sooooooooooooo, how do you KNOW you don't have a tapeworm?
I know I don't, but I bet you do.
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.

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
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.
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.
How do you know you don't?
At 292 lbs I'm pretty sure I don't, but I'm not certain.
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...
thanks
They say that 50 percent of th population has some kind of parasite. It is believable.
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.
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.
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.
Egad. Glad I keep kosher.
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