“Tapeworm Infection: An Unexpected Cause of Persistent Cough”

02:47 PM

Sunday 07 May 2023

I wrote – Yasmine El Sawy:

X-rays of a patient with a persistent cough showed that he had a tapeworm infection, which led to the cough, so what is the relationship?

The tapeworm infection lives in the intestines, and enters some tissues such as the muscles or the brain, as published by “The Sun”.

Worms enter the digestive system as a result of eating contaminated food, especially meat, and the condition is usually not considered serious once the worms die quickly.

These worms can lead to an abscess under the skin, which causes health problems, as coughing and chest pain can occur when abscesses appear on the lungs.

If the abscess appears in the brain or spinal cord, it can lead to a condition called “neurocysticercosis”, a very serious infection that can cause paralysis or epilepsy.

Dr. Vitor Buren de Souza, a physician treating the case in Brazil, who posted the x-ray images on the Twitter platform, said that this patient is waiting for an MRI to examine the location of the abscess on the brain.

Surgery is usually required to remove the abscess in such cases, as the abscess may move to the eyes, causing infection and blurry vision.

It may take several months or years for the abscess to appear in the first place after infection with the tapeworm infection, so you should pay attention to the symptoms of the condition as soon as it occurs, and it includes loss of appetite, stomach cramps, diarrhea, fatigue and vomiting.