When you visit the doctor with a nasty headache, more often than not you will leave being told to get some sleep, stay hydrated, and take some paracetamol. That certainly would not have done the trick for one woman, who was told she had tapeworm larvae growing on her brain. Nice.
Yadira Rostro suffered with headaches – that were literally blinding at times – for nine months before she sought medical help.
Shocked doctors discovered parasites living within her skull, and prepared the 31-year-old for surgery.
The cause of the issue would hardly have laid Rostro’s mind to rest either. Doctors reckon that whilst on holiday in Mexico two years ago, she will likely have eaten food contaminated by some kind of fecal matter.
But unlike most cases, where the ingested parasites pass through the body, the unlucky mother from Dallas saw her bloodstream become infected, before the parasites took hold on her brain.
Being such a fascinatingly rare and disgusting case, medical experts requested that they be allowed to film the removal of the larvae to share with the world.
You can check out the graphic footage below, if you’re not feeling squeamish.
I’m not sure whether to thank Rostro for agreeing to the surgery being filmed or not, but she is at least expected to make a complete recovery.
Might give Mexico a miss for a few years, just while I repress the memory of that video.
