Jan 27, 04
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Queen of FNK
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Brain Worms *UGH!*
Was at work yesterday and read an article in the Vancouver Sun (Jan 24, 2004 edition).
A young, UBC environmentalist student who loved to travel into the Third World countries suddenly had difficulty speaking the language he had mastered to speak - Spanish. He also began to experience headaches, abnormal sensations in his right side, and continuous nausea and vomiting. Over time, he began to struggle with his own native tongue - English.
A CAT scan and MRI revealed a huge mass on the student's brain. The doctors first suspected that it was a rare, tropical disease, and a biopsy was concluded to diagnose the condition. The student was given steroids to combat the unusual swelling, and a follow-up MRI was done to discover that the swelling and mass had persisted.
The student was later informed that he had a huge tumor and didn't have much time left. The doctors decided to do an invasive surgical removal of the mass in hopes of prolonging his life. What they found was astonishing... they found massive amounts of helminth ova... or simply WORM EGGS! :sick:
The doctors quickly removed all the eggs and were diagnosed as the signs of "Schistosoma Mekongi" - parasite found in the Mekong River in Laos and Cambodia (Central America). Apparently, they discovered that the student and his friends took a quick swim in the Mekong River, a couple of years back, even though there were warnings about this disease in the contaminated water.
In the end, the student lived... a rare condition as normally this disease attacks your bladder, liver and small intestines. They concluded that a small worm accidentally made a "wrong turn" and fell into his blood stream, travelled up to his brain, and made a home.
Here's the whole article:
"You've got worms in your brain"
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