Worms wriggling around in your brain — it’s a particularly gruesome image that sounds like it came straight from a B horror movie. But several parasites can and do infect the central nervous system. The most common of these is Taenia solium, aka the pork tapeworm.
Gross as it sounds, infection with a pork tapeworm usually doesn’t cause much harm. Tapeworms get into the intestines when people eat undercooked pork that is contaminated with the larvae of the tapeworm. While in the intestinal tract, the larvae continue to develop, explains Astra Bryant, neuroscientist and parasitologist at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Getting Tapeworms in the Brain
You might think the adult worms would be more dangerous, but it’s actually the larvae that cause the most trouble. The adult worms lay eggs, and then the larvae migrate to other parts of the body. The liver and lungs are common destinations, but the larvae rarely cause any symptoms in these organs. However, if the larvae set up camp in the brain, they can cause serious health problems.
