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Man finds out migraines caused by brain tapeworms; undercooked bacon may be culprit

A man was hospitalized with worsening migraines only to find out they were caused by parasitic tapeworm larvae in his brain — and researchers believe he was infected by eating undercooked bacon.

The unidentified 52-year-old American man consulted doctors about changes in his usual migraines over four months, according to a study in the American Journal of Case Reports published Thursday. The migraines became more frequent, severe and unresponsive to medication.

The patient was admitted to the hospital for testing. CT scans revealed numerous cystic foci, which are fluid-filled sacs in the brain. Cysticercosis cyst antibody tests returned positive, and the man was diagnosed with neurocysticercosis, the study said.

Vytle ,

Wasnt this shit on House, MD?

LibertyLizard ,

Does the curing process not kill them? This surprises me.

evasive_chimpanzee ,

I posted this in a reply, but I’m reposting it here:

Bacon is already cooked when you buy it from the store (at least in america). The difference between “pork belly” and “bacon” is that bacon is cured and then smoked. That smoking process gets the temperature above the range to cook it.

Besides, even “chewy” bacon is going to get above the recommended pork cooking temp. It’s so thin, it will reach that temperature very quickly. If it gets hot enough to start rendering the fat, it’s definitely hot enough, and I have a hard time believing anyone would pull bacon out of the oven before it’s had time to render some fat.

If you read the case report by the docs, they don’t say “we think he got this disease from bacon”.

Our patient’s lifelong preference for soft bacon may have led to instances of undercooked bacon consumption, but this would have caused him to develop taeniasis, an intestinal tapeworm, and not cysticercosis [1]. Taeniasis occurs when consuming undercooked pork and the larval cysts embedded within, while cysticercosis is contracted when humans ingest eggs found in the feces of other humans with taeniasis [1].

In other words, the brain version only comes from eating the eggs, which can only come from eating poop of someone who had the intestinal worms. They later specify that they think the most likely scenario is that he got the intestinal version, re-infected himself through the fecal-oral pathway, then somehow cured himself of the intestinal version.

Personally, I think the most likely scenario is that he got the parasite the same way you get any other disease that uses the fecal-oral pathway: contact with someone’s inadequately washed hands, or eating food prepared by someone with inadequately washed hands.

archomrade ,

Reminder to always wash your toys after playtime, people.

Draupnir ,

And no matter how clean the chocolate starfish claims to be, it is never clean enough

chetradley ,

That’s my least favorite pathway.

Moneo ,

Personally, I think the most likely scenario is that he got the parasite the same way you get any other disease that uses the fecal-oral

I thought you were going somewhere else with this…

JamesTBagg ,

Fear won’t stop me, if she enjoys it, I’m tongue punchin’ it.

Starkstruck ,

New fear unlocked

mPony ,

By candlelight I ate that pork I couldn’t see danger on my fork Oh if you do love me completely Never again feed me food that will eat me

mPony ,

Pardon, I forgot to credit these lyrics: they are from “Trichonosis” by The Arrogant Worms

NABDad ,

I’m wondering if this explains why my chewy-bacon eating father is a Trumper.

No, that’s right. It’s the fascism.

TIMMAY ,

tapeworms are to fascist americans what the ratatouille rat was to that chef in the movie

HWK_290 ,

Leela, I had worms. I needed to know who you loved. Me or them.

mihies ,

And I just watched House m.d. 1 part of 1st season last week :)

theskyisfalling ,

Hmmmm maybe I should stop eating a raw sausage every now and then…

NoIWontPickAName ,

It’s 2024 you don’t have to disguise your words

SomeGuy69 ,

Tapeworms are not classified as STDs.

mPony ,

YET

catloaf ,

Tapeworm eggs are passed in feces, and there are sex acts involving the mouth, the anus, and/or feces. It’s not out of the realm of possibility.

SomeGuy69 ,

That’s… I …I didn’t think about that possibility.

qooqie ,

This sort of shit terrifies me because I definitely don’t cook my food perfectly each time

GrabtharsHammer ,

No need to cook it perfectly, just sufficiently. Nobody lets me grill the chicken because mine is good and sterile all the way through. It’s also dry, so a ways past “perfect”. But I also know how to make gravy, so it’s all good.

NABDad ,

so it’s all good

Is it? Is it really?

Restaldt ,

His dry ass chicken definitely isnt

Texas_Hangover ,

Or you could get a thermometer and not fuck your shit up.

Ghostalmedia ,
@Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world avatar

I don’t understand these flaccid bacon people. Crispy bacon is clearly superior.

suodrazah ,

I like to cook it in the oven for extra crispiness. Also, candied bacon is amazing.

littlebluespark ,
@littlebluespark@lemmy.world avatar

Try rendering bits & ends with balsamic vinegar; slowly and never letting it scorch, and you’ll have yourself some of the best gawdamn candy there is. 🤘🏽

AA5B ,

Hate to be an idiot, but do you have a recipe? Specific steps? Never having bought burnt end, much less cooked them and don’t know what rendering means or what proportions

littlebluespark , (edited )
@littlebluespark@lemmy.world avatar

Not an idiot, and that’s totally fine to ask, certainly! Rendering is to draw fat from a mass of meat over low heat. Also, “bits & ends” are simply off-cuts or odd shaped pieces leftover from the slicing of bacon for sale, and should be available for a discounted price —whereas “burnt ends” are a finished bbq product and not an ingredient, per se.

The prep for this is pretty simple really, and once you do it yourself, it should make more sense as to how it all works.

Begin with a sauce pot or large skillet that you have a lid for (you’ll want to partially cover it during cooking to minimize spatter) over Medium to Medium-High heat and a decent handful of bacon bits & ends (=/< 2 lbs). Partially cover with said lid to keep the mess to a minimum, but don’t fully cover it or you’ll change the cooking process to problematic. (internal heat capture, moisture retention, etc.) Stir the pieces during this step to make sure all are cooking evenly.

As the fat begins to pool and the bacon solids are warmed through, gently pour off and reserve the oil before returning the solids and pot/pan to the heat. You can use a metal sieve for this step, to filter the oil quickly and cleanly, but don’t press/squeeze the bacon to force out more oil if so.

At the minimum, the solids need to come back up to a similar temp as before the pour-off, though I like to take them a bit further for some crispy edges. While this is working (mostly covered, to keep the grease specks from flying all over your stovetop), measure out a volume of balsamic vinegar that will be able to just coat the solids and then some. IIRC, this should be about a third (<½) of the current volume of solids in the pot/pan.

Once the bacon solids are at your preferred warmth/crispiness, stir in the balsamic. (Pouring it into the center will help minimize spatter, but there will be an initial steam cloud, so watch out when you’re stirring it all together — steam burns are no joke.) After each piece is saturated, reduce the heat to a Low/Medium-Low and return the lid to partially cover, stirring occasionally.

The process is finished when the balsamic is reduced to a thick glaze and the bacon pieces are coated without being sticky/stringy. You can either lay them out on a Silpat baking sheet or parchment paper to cool, or add them straight away to a tossed salad of arugula, fresh diced tomatoes, and parmesan with a citrusy dressing paired with chicken or fish, for example. It freezes well, and can be used later in all sorts of ways, including a quick treat while thinking about what you want to cook that day. 🤗

Oh, and the oil you reserved in the beginning can be added to your cooking as you see fit. Cutting it into oil amounts for flavor or simply in place of butter, at times. Coupled with roasted garlic and cracked pepper on crusty bread, it makes a hearty split pea soup really sing! ✨

Have fun!

AA5B ,

Thanks for plenty of detail! Ill have to give it a try

Lauchs ,

Not flaccid, I want crispy edges but goddamn, bacon you can sit and chew for awhile is amazing. Burnt/“crispy” bacon just crumbles and, in my possibly tapeworm adled brain, deprives you of sweet bacony goodness.

bitwaba ,

Exactly. Crispy edges for that maillard flavor, but still chewy means the fat coats your mouth and leaves that long lasting savory bacon flavor even after a sip of coffee.

Crispy might as well be eating a bottle of bacon bits. It’s just disappointing dry dust with a flavor that disappears almost immediately.

treefrog ,

My mouth started watering at fat coats your mouth lol

SomeGuy69 ,

Mett Brötchen 🤤 as a German I disagree.

Edgecrusher35 ,

Crispy bacon on sandwiches and floppy bacon for breakfast. This is the way.

tal ,
@tal@lemmy.today avatar

On one hand, cooking it thoroughly is probably a decent fix.

But…I wonder if irradiation would be sufficient to wipe out tapeworms?

www.iaea.org/sites/default/…/08305702731.pdf

On the other hand, irradiated bacon has been approved for human consumption by the health authorities and is being processed commercially in the United States. In fact, participants at Karlsruhe were served such bacon which had been kept for 21 months at room temperature (20°C to 38°C) and showed no signs of deterioration.

That does sound promising.

RizzRustbolt ,

There’s nothing promising about immortal bacon.

tal ,
@tal@lemmy.today avatar

Found the tapeworm!

wrath_of_grunge ,
@wrath_of_grunge@kbin.social avatar

people think immortality is a gift.

but it is a curse.

immortal bacon would be no different.

the times we don't have bacon, give delicious flavor to the times when we do. if it was bacon time, all the time, then the phrase 'bacon time' would lose it's significance.

NoIWontPickAName ,

Oberon?

lennybird ,
@lennybird@lemmy.world avatar

From prions to tapeworms, rare though they may be, I’m happy to be vegetarian even though I miss wings.

Deceptichum ,
@Deceptichum@sh.itjust.works avatar

Fun fact: Both prions and tapeworms can spread from vegetables!

Enjoy your next meal.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7030912/

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34816974/

Ipodjockey ,
@Ipodjockey@lemmy.world avatar

I love fun facts.

lennybird , (edited )
@lennybird@lemmy.world avatar

How did I know someone would reply with something like this lol.

Guess I’ll just die.

Edit: So having read these more closely and looked into it further:

  • Yes, it’s suggested there is a vector for prion disease — particularly CWD — from cross-contamination of plants but the study focused on Chronic-Wasting Disease (CWD), which itself is not infectious to humans… Yet.
  • There have been no documented infection of a life-long vegetarian/vegan with an human-infectious prion disease. One famous case discovered the individual got it from infected beef as a child.
  • Tapeworms and Roundworms can cross-contaminate vegetables, mostly due to poop. Wash your veggies. Cook your meat.
  • Nevertheless the vast majority of tape-worm and round-worm cases stem from meat. Naturally, if one needs only wash/cook the exterior of a vegetable versus ensuring the internal cooking of meat from an animal raised around other animals and wallowing in its own shit, the risk is evidently going to be much higher in the latter.
arin ,

Wash your veggies, cook them, and wash them again. Cook them one more time if you don’t trust your water

Feathercrown ,

It’s been three days. I starve, yet I must wash and cook the vegetables ten more times before I can eat them.

ryannathans ,

Study seems to suggest exposing the wheat plant roots to lots of prions didn’t do anything other than get them on the roots, sometimes?

AlligatorBlizzard ,

The Gardein ultimate chic’n wings are pretty solid if you haven’t had them yet. I wish someone made veggie wings that you could use your own sauce with, but I haven’t seen any.

AZERTY ,

Cauliflower wings are a decent alternative if cooked correctly

lennybird ,
@lennybird@lemmy.world avatar

Agreed. Also tofu bites, but cauliflower is easier to execute in my opinion.

arin ,

I’ve had cauliflower pizza and holy sodium was that high. I’m a sodium tolerant person and even that was too much for me. Back to instant ramen

lennybird ,
@lennybird@lemmy.world avatar

Omg dude you’re right about that, best veggie wings I’ve had, but I’ve also never seen something contain that much sodium per serving. Meanwhile that little bag contains 4050mg in total lol.

Kolanaki ,
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

I, too, have headaches and eat chewy bacon… 😟

j4k3 ,
@j4k3@lemmy.world avatar

I never eat bacon. No headaches…😎

wrath_of_grunge ,
@wrath_of_grunge@kbin.social avatar

it's pork dog, like many things it needs to be cooked properly.

if you want to risk it for undercooked meat, that's on you. but certain things need to be sanitized. cooking does that. there are many ways to have chewy, yet properly cooked bacon.

Deceptichum ,
@Deceptichum@sh.itjust.works avatar

I thought pork was pig not dog.

PainInTheAES ,

Hotdog enters the chat

evasive_chimpanzee ,

Bacon is already cooked when you buy it from the store (at least in america). The difference between “pork belly” and “bacon” is that bacon is cured and then smoked. That smoking process gets the temperature above the range to cook it.

Uncured bacon is a lie. They basically claim not to add nitrites/nitrates (which is necessary to cure it), but they add celery juice or powder, which contains nitrites and nitrates, so they can avoid listing them as ingredients.

gabbagabbahey ,

Obviously you’ve got brain tape worms.

AnUnusualRelic ,
@AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world avatar

Just think of them as pets that really like to cuddle.

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