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 ...
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.
OMG, thanks for the tip, I will NEVER forget it. These things are all sooooo strange but they do happen. How was it determined what it was? And how did you ever think back on where you picked it up?
No matter how he tried
He could not break free
And the worms ate into his brain
Hmmmm. Someone should ping Darks to this thread....
Taco Del Mar......I watch them make my food - you stand right there and get it made to order from fresh ingredients....and I even tell them to change their gloves.....course I haven't gone back to the one where I had to tell them that....the Taco Del Mar's I go to have American's preparing and serving the food...have to admit to never seeing a Mexican or what looked like immigrant in any of them.
I have to admit, very occasionally eat at nice restaurants....and wonder.....but, then I have my GSE (grapefruit seed extract)....I put it in my daily water bottle.....probably would kill anything I might eat.
The worms crawl out
In your nose and
Out your snout.
This poor person was still alive--creepy.
I think I'm going to throw up.
What a horribly intolerant thing to call our undocumented guest workers!
"How was it determined what it was?" Behavior in the burrowing and then identified when placed between two strips of tape and viewed --ugly little monster, too! "And how did you ever think back on where you picked it up?" I went home when the itching got too intense so I wouldn't have to go to an ER not in my home town. I had been in dress shoes and a suit all day prior to checking into the HI in Gadsden, AL. The symptoms began quickly as the thingy burrowed along (it was in my back so I couldn't see the effects at first); the redness and swelling left a clear trail to follow for doctor's inspection from entry point.
Get your doctor to give you a Vermox chewable pill and see if you have dead worms in your poor just like your dog when you deworm it. I agree. Disgusting. Never saw a patient with tape worms but of coarse pin worms are everywhere. They do not kill you just makes you want to scratch you know where. Stool sample can be tested easily.
Maybe but these two lines were conveniently left out though and kind of undercut that theory.
The disease can take years to manifest inside the body making it difficult to pinpoint where the patient ate the contaminated food.
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