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Rare brain worms spread by unsanitary cooks[Texas]
KHOU | KENS 5 ^ | 01/12/2007

Posted on 01/12/2007 2:27:10 PM PST by SwinneySwitch

There was a time when Renaldo Ramirez, of Houston, didn't like to cook.

The 50-year-old ate most of his meals at mobile kitchens until he found out food contaminated with tapeworm eggs almost killed him.

"He's scared now. He's scared of any food from outside," Ramirez said through his sister who interpreted for him.

Ramirez is a tile worker who immigrated to the U.S. from El Salvador 20 years ago.

"It was a mild headache, but it wouldn't go away," he said. "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 he passed out and didn't wake up for eight days.

Dr. Aaron Mohanty found a cyst of tapeworm larvae living in Ramirez's brain. If it hadn't been found, the doctor said, Ramirez could have been dead within hours from the disease called cysticercosis. The disease is usually found in rural parts of developing countries with poor hygiene habits. However, Ramirez was the fourth patient Mohanty treated within a few months.

"The cycle starts with a human that's infected with the tapeworm," said Dr. Luis Ostrosky, of the UT Houston Medical Center.

The tapeworm eggs are spread by a human host who doesn't practice good hygiene after using the restroom. An unsuspecting victim then eats the contaminated food, Ostrosky said.

"These eggs hatch in the intestine and go through the gut-wall and into the circulation where they get stuck somewhere," Ostrosky said.

Ramirez's cyst was removed through a small incision. During his recovery Ramirez learned to cook and now prepares his own food.

There have been cases of cysticercosis in South Texas, San Antonio's Metro Health District said, but it is not a major outbreak.

The best way to avoid the disease, doctors say, is to wash your hands, cook meats thoroughly, especially pork, and to wash fruits and vegetables.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: cysticercosis; health; publichealth; publicmenace; tapeworms
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To: Bushwacker777

Why you insensitive bigot! (just kidding;) Seriously, we have here appalling evidence of the failure to assimilate immigrants to American culture-first the victim living here 20 years(!) who can't speak English, and the worker who does not comprehend American standards of personal hygeine. Thanks, multiculturalists and liberals!/s


41 posted on 01/12/2007 3:55:20 PM PST by Frank_2001
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To: DBrow
Cue Comfortably Numb...

That's "Hey You."

"...and the worms ate into his brain...."

42 posted on 01/12/2007 3:57:08 PM PST by dfwgator (The University of Florida - Championship U)
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To: SwinneySwitch

Gross, and I was just watching that Futurama ep where Fry gets worms. No toilet sandwiches for me!


43 posted on 01/12/2007 4:08:10 PM PST by Trillian
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To: SwinneySwitch
The tapeworm eggs are spread by a human host who doesn't practice good hygiene after using the restroom.

Lots of fools on this thread were bragging about how they don't wash their hands:

Survey finds airport restroom users seldom wash

44 posted on 01/12/2007 4:18:18 PM PST by Diddle E. Squat (An easy 10-team playoff based on the BCS bowls can be implemented by next year. See my homepage.)
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To: YellowRoseofTx

"And our border is open to millions of third world illegals who don't have have or know good hygiene habits doing all kinds of work with our food chain."

Exactly!!

Hi Rosie!!! Hope things are going good for you!


45 posted on 01/12/2007 4:18:20 PM PST by TEXOKIE (Wear Red on Fridays to support the troops!!)
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To: SwinneySwitch

I have heard that ceviche' (shrimp and other seafood "cooked" in lime juice and other acidic substances) can give you worms.


46 posted on 01/12/2007 5:10:05 PM PST by hispanarepublicana (Funny, but I don't remember pressing 1 for English in 1994.)
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To: SwinneySwitch

I have heard that ceviche' (shrimp and other seafood "cooked" in lime juice and other acidic substances) can give you worms.


47 posted on 01/12/2007 5:10:17 PM PST by hispanarepublicana (Funny, but I don't remember pressing 1 for English in 1994.)
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To: SwinneySwitch
"Rare brain worms spread by unsanitary cooks[Texas]"

That would explain a lot of what goes on in Austin...

48 posted on 01/12/2007 5:23:52 PM PST by Redbob
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To: n230099
I dislike paranoia but I'm really getting leery of eating out.

You have reason to be concerned. I've been to too many restaurant restrooms and seen so many come out of the toilet and walk right out without even getting close to the sink. Surely, some of these slobs are involved in preparing and/or serving the food. I've begun to avoid eating out whenever possible since I know that there are lots of food-borne diseases. And it's a bigger problem now that we have more and more immigrants to whom hygiene is a "foreign" concept.

49 posted on 01/12/2007 5:26:04 PM PST by OldPossum
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To: Hardastarboard
You forgot the whooping cough epidemic from a couple of years ago.

It's not over, there have been several new cases recently
50 posted on 01/12/2007 5:28:03 PM PST by YellowRoseofTx
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To: lastchance

House has cured every thing from headlice to toejam but we love him for his bedside manner.


51 posted on 01/12/2007 5:37:58 PM PST by Old Professer (The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, and writes again.)
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To: timydnuc

Wow, for a while there, I was scared that you might be an English teacher.


52 posted on 01/12/2007 5:40:32 PM PST by Old Professer (The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, and writes again.)
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To: AnotherUnixGeek

Me too, I take them home to use again.


53 posted on 01/12/2007 5:41:37 PM PST by Old Professer (The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, and writes again.)
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To: hispanarepublicana

Me too.

Me too.

Don't eat raw oysters, sushi or sashimi anymore.


54 posted on 01/12/2007 5:46:23 PM PST by SwinneySwitch (Terroristas - beyond your expectations!)
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To: Diddle E. Squat

The thing I found most interesting about your 31/2 year old link was that the most fastidious hand washers were in Toronto during and following the SARS scare where a total of 32 Torontons were said to have died from SARS while the murder rate plodded along at 94 for the year.


55 posted on 01/12/2007 5:53:32 PM PST by Old Professer (The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, and writes again.)
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To: gubamyster

Ping!


56 posted on 01/12/2007 6:06:03 PM PST by TheLion (How about "Comprehensive Immigration Enforcement," for a change)
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To: Old Professer

Yes it is the bedside manner that stands out.

I love Hugh Laurie. Hard to believe he got his start in such gems as A Bit of Fry and Laurie, and the Black Adder series.


57 posted on 01/12/2007 6:46:40 PM PST by lastchance (Hug your babies.)
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To: YCTHouston

Houston Aliens Pings!


58 posted on 01/12/2007 6:49:47 PM PST by BUSHdude2000 (President Bush, STAND UP TO THE LEFT AND PROTECT OUR TROOPS)
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To: lastchance

You forgot his best "Jeeves and Wooster"


59 posted on 01/12/2007 11:45:11 PM PST by packrat35 (guest worker/day worker=SlaveMart)
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To: SwinneySwitch

Bon appetite


60 posted on 01/13/2007 5:10:14 AM PST by A. Pole (M. Boskin: "It doesn't make any difference whether a country makes potato chips or computer chips!")
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