A disturbing scan shared by an ER doctor on social media shows the horrific effects of undercooked pork on a patient's body .
Dr Sam Ghali, who is an emergency physician practicing at UF Health Jacksonville Emergency Room and UF Health North Emergency Room in Florida , regularly shares information on health emergencies on X, formerly known as Twitter, in order to educate the public. One of his latest posts is a still from a CT scan which he described as "one of the craziest" scans he has ever seen.
It shows parasites all around a patient's legs and pelvic area, due to a tissue infection called Cysticercosis. He explained that the parasitic infection is caused by the ingestion of larval cysts of Taenia Solium, the medical term for pork tapeworm.
The ER doctor said humans become infected with Taenia Solium by ingesting cysts that can be found in undercooked pork. Between five and 12 weeks later, these cysts evolve within the gastrointestinal tract into mature adult tapeworms, a condition known as Intestinal Taeniasis, Dr Ghali added.
He went on to explain: "These adult tapeworms then shed eggs which are in turn excreted into human feces. It's very important to note that it is only when these eggs are ingested via fecal-oral transmission, that one can develop the clinical syndrome known as of Cysticercosis!
"After the eggs are ingested (humans or pigs) they release larvae which penetrate the intestinal wall and invade into the bloodstream (via mesenteric venules) and from there can spread to literally anywhere in the entire body. The brain, eyes, subcutaneous tissues, and skeletal muscles are the most common destinations. The larvae lodge wherever the end up and ultimately form cysts known as cysticerci.
"The hosts inflammatory response typically ends up killing off the cysts, which subsequently undergo calcification, giving them the classic appearance you can appreciate on this CT scan. These are commonly referred to as 'rice grain calcifications'."
Dr Ghali said a dangerous complication of this condition is when the larvae travel up to the brain, forming cysts in the brain tissue - a condition known as neurocysticercosis, which can cause headaches, confusion, seizures, and other serious neurologic problems. The medical expert said that while most patients eventually have a good prognosis, it is estimated that around 50 million people worldwide are infected each year, resulting in about 50,000 deaths.
He said treatment options include anti-parasitic therapy, steroids, anti-epileptics (neurocysticercosis), and surgical removal. Dr Ghali urged everyone to make sure they always cook pork thoroughly to avoid any dangerous complications, saying: "So the moral of the story here is do your best to keep clean, always wash your hands, and never, ever eat raw or undercooked pork. I hope you learned something. Stay safe out there!"
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Eating raw or undercooked pork can make you very sick and in addition to Cysticercosis, it can also cause Trichinosis, a parasitic disease caused by roundworms. Other germs commonly associated with uncooked or undercooked pork include Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus and Yersinia enterocolitica.
The World Health Organization said Cysticercosis "mainly affects the health and livelihoods of subsistence farming communities in developing countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America." In 2015, the WHO Foodborne Disease Burden Epidemiology Reference Group identified T. solium "as a leading cause of deaths from food-borne diseases, resulting in a considerable total of 2.8 million disability-adjusted life-years."
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