US presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr , be intimate to many as RFK Jr , hit headlines this calendar week after a decade - old deposit emerged in which he talked about “ a worm that stimulate into my brain and eat up a portion of it and then died . ” No prizes for approximate that brain worm are not a great matter to have , but you might be surprised / horrified to instruct just how common these parasites are .
Now that RFK Jr istweetingthat he ’d gayly “ eat five more genius worms ” and still image his luck in the 2024 electoral race , here ’s all you need to know about where these leech come up from , and how you get infected .
What type of parasite did RFK Jr have?
In a dethronement from 2012 , recently reviewed by theNew York Times , Kennedy describes neurological symptoms that he had as far back as 2010 . After experience memory issues and brain fog , he reportedly sought advice from medical expert , who note a “ dark spot ” on CAT scan of his brain .
A phone number of medics conclude that this was a sign of a neoplasm , but even as he was train to undergo surgery , Kennedy pick up a call from a doctor with a different opinion : that the disconsolate spot on his brain was the stiff of aparasitic louse .
The New York Times has since spoken to several autonomous experts who say the symptoms would fit with a diagnosing of a pork barrel tapeworm , although all were speak in a general capacity and have not flat trade with RFK Jr ’s case .
What are pork tapeworms?
The pork tapeworm ( Taenia solium ) is a cestode worm responsible for the human disease taeniasis andcysticercosis . Three mintage ofTaeniaworms can taint humans , butT. soliumis the most devastating by far .
Taeniasis occur when someone eats undercooked pork barrel from an septic pig containing worm larvae , called cysticerci . Over the line of a couple of months , the worm confiscate to the inside of the small intestine and matured . AdultT. soliumcan reach lengths ofup to 8 meters(26 feet ) – you ’d mean it could n’t get much worse , but with this finicky tapeworm , the adult is in reality the least of your problems .
As the 20 - foot unwelcome visitant happily chills in your gut , sometimes for long time , it develops up to 1,000 segments called proglottids , and each of these can contain a staggering 50,000 egg . These testis are passed in feces . Like other diseases that can pass via the faecal - oral itinerary – i.e. via food contaminate by trace of fecal topic or miserable manus hygienics – it ’s possible to then reinfect yourself , or taint someone else , with the leech ’s eggs .
This is far more serious than the initial tapeworm infection . The eggs hatching in the gut , and the result oncospheres can pass by through the enteral paries and contact lots of other areas of the torso – admit the brain . There they evolve into cysticerci , and that ’s how you get the disease known as cysticercosis , orneurocysticercosisif it affects the mentality .
TheT. soliumlifecycle is one of the more complex among human parasitic disease , but it ’s this ability for reinfection with one ’s own cestode eggs that makes the pork cestode so much more grave than the similar squawk cestode , for model .
How common are pork tapeworms?
harmonize to theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC ) , neurocysticercosis due to the pork cestode is considered a Neglected Parasitic Infection in the US , with around 1,000 new hospitalization insurance each year , and is a leading cause of adult - onset epilepsy worldwide . This is a planetary leech get hold across plaza where porc is commonly eaten , in the main in rural regions where cop and humans may fall into close contact .
Higher charge per unit of taeniasis fromT. soliumhave beenrecordedin rural residential district in Latin America , Eastern Europe , sub - Saharan Africa , India , and Asia . Both taeniasis and cysticercosis are cogitate to be underreported . study have rule mellow charge per unit of infection among communities inMadagascar , Eastern and Southern Africa , and parts ofChina , among others , with researchers call for better surveillance and monitoring around the Earth .
In the US , taeniasis is most frequently ascertain in people who have immigrate from Latin America .
Cysticercosis arises most commonly in people who already haveT. soliumtaeniasis , via the process of autoinfection described above . However , it ’s potential to develop cysticercosis through contamination – for exemplar , eat food organize by someone with taeniaisis if scrupulous hand hygienics has not been observed – even if you have never consumed undercooked pork barrel and have not personally been expose to the grownup tapeworm .
Can pork tapeworms be prevented or treated?
Both taeniasis and cysticercosis caused byT. soliumare preventable . Your good defence is to ensure that any pork barrel Cartesian product are wangle good before consumption .
The CDCcitesthe recommendations of the US Department of Agriculture when it comes to preparing pork barrel . Whole cut of meat should be cook to a minimum inner temperature of 63 ° C ( 145 ° atomic number 9 ) and left to rest for three minutes . Ground pork should be cooked to a minimum of 71 ° C ( 160 ° F ) but does not require take a breather . A marrow thermometer will be your honest champion here .
A2020 studyalso wait at other cooking methods , and found that for boiled pork knockout , prepare for 10 minutes at 80 ° C ( 176 ° atomic number 9 ) was sufficient to killT. soliumlarvae . At 50 ° C ( 122 ° F ) , a cookery duration of over 40 minutes was require . They concluded that the legal age of boil pork barrel dishes would run into guard requirements , but suggested that deep - frying pork barrel could be an issuance due to the shorter cooking metre involved .
T. soliumlarvae can also be cross byfreezingmeat at -20 ° C ( -4 ° F ) – slightly colder than most commercial deep-freeze ) – for one to three days .
Other control methods targeting the pigs themselves , such as attempting to detect the parasite before animals are massacre and cause to keep pigs and humankind aside , have had varying degrees of achiever .
Once someone is infected withT. solium , there are sometreatment options , but these can be dearly-won and may not be accessible . The most common medicine used for taeniasis is called praziquantel , which is taken orally . However , both praziquantel and another drug that can be used , albendazole , may not be suitable for the great unwashed with cysticercosis , as they ’ve been linked with possible seizures .
With neurocysticercosis , treatment starts by tackle symptom like seizures and brain swelling before targeting the parasites themselves . Antiparasitic intervention can alsomake symptom worseat first , so steroids may be given at the same time to aid dampen down the inflammatory reply .
The psyche damage due to all-embracing neurocysticercosis can be permanent . In RFK Jr ’s case though , the New York Times reports that his memory loss may be down to a unlike condition he reportedly had at the clock time , one with less terrestrial origins . The theme explains how he was name withmercurypoisoning , triggered by eating excessive amount of fish .
That ’s not one you’re able to prevent by wangle it , unluckily .
All “ explainer ” clause are reassert byfact checkersto be correct at metre of publishing . Text , images , and connection may be blue-pencil , polish off , or summate to at a later date to keep data current .
The capacity of this article is not intended to be a reserve for professional aesculapian advice , diagnosing , or treatment . Always assay the advice of qualified health providers with interrogative sentence you may have regarding medical status .
