> The finding surprised the doctors since tapeworms aren’t endemic to Spain and he said he hadn’t traveled. However, the man may have been exposed during his work. Until 10-years prior, when he retired, he had worked in construction, often working alongside people who had migrated from regions where pork tapeworms (Taenia solium) are endemic. The parasitic worms can spread through the fecal-oral route. His doctors speculated his infection might have been a rare case of cryptic transmission from sharing meals and bathrooms with his coworkers, one of whom apparently had a tapeworm infection.
The Taenia genus —among many other pork parasites— is —or used to be— endemic in the whole Iberian peninsula and all ethnic Spaniards eat raw pork meat.
I don't even know which mystery non–Spaniard dark–skins the doctor is trying to blame here.
This is a big fear of mine. I have a course of albendazole once every year just for this. It is de facto over the counter in India. I bought enough to last 4 years, the last time I was there.
I have often thought it might be a wise idea to do some form of prophylactic course against parasitic infections given my extensive travels, but this isn't something that's generally recommended here in the US and I've yet to meet a doctor who would be willing to prescribe deworming without evidence of an active infection. Is this something that's common in India?
You may be correct, but I assume the word prophylaxis here is to some extent being misused, and really what's happening is that in regions where parasitic infections are endemic, nearly everyone has parasites but because they're often asymptomatic you don't get treated unless you have symptoms, so ensuring you clear our your parasitic load regularly may be beneficial to health regardless of whether you actively have symptoms. I would not expect anti-parasitic agents to become less effective if used on an individual where they don't have any parasitic infection, as there's no evolutionary pressure on the parasites, but it might become less effective over time if someone is actively infected but the agent doesn't successfully kill all the parasites allowing them to reproduce with those evolutionary changes.
Yeah but that's opening a can of worms nobody even wants to talk about.
What we do about parasites is simple, and you describe it well. Tell people to take basic measures, and when visible signs are observed, give medication that works "in most cases". How is this done? Informally (luckily at least by people who were educated and are at least aware of the problems. And not just the problem right in front of their faces). Additionally, give the same medicine to 50 million cows without any check or treatment because that's cheaper.
The correct way to deal with it is to go look for infection sources, clean them (which is done, but not nearly enough), and essentially go look for patients. Not waiting for patients to come but if you find some source of infection, "arrest" everyone around there, given them near-overdoses of medication for a very long time (so that the odds of a single parasite surviving are almost nothing). Outside of these actions it should be almost impossible for a parasite to encounter the medicine (ie. there should be no way for patients to get it on their own initiative). Why? That would make it very hard for parasites to adapt.
(oh and if you find it in cows? Don't try to treat them, kill every cow less than 1 km or so from a known infected one, and burn them all to a crisp, in an oven, never using any part of them for anything)
But if you put it like this, it becomes pretty clear why it's not going to happen, doesn't it?
Saw something like this in one ER I worked at years ago. Guy in his 50's was brought in for seizures. Don't remember exactly where he came from, but it was some place where tapeworms from pigs was not unheard of. CT of head showed numerous cysts in his brain. I remember seeing the spots in his head being a bit smaller than in the imagery in the article and more spread out. Anyway he was diagnosed with neurocysticercosis and admitted. No idea what happened after, often I didn't get follow-up in the ER setting. Anyway, that... was memorable. Never ate undercooked pork before that, but after... never ever will.
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[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 47.0 ms ] threadyikes
I don't even know which mystery non–Spaniard dark–skins the doctor is trying to blame here.
Even within a single patient this is sometimes observed.
So yes, it helps. Until it suddenly doesn't. And the point where it suddenly doesn't comes faster every year. We have no real alternatives.
What we do about parasites is simple, and you describe it well. Tell people to take basic measures, and when visible signs are observed, give medication that works "in most cases". How is this done? Informally (luckily at least by people who were educated and are at least aware of the problems. And not just the problem right in front of their faces). Additionally, give the same medicine to 50 million cows without any check or treatment because that's cheaper.
The correct way to deal with it is to go look for infection sources, clean them (which is done, but not nearly enough), and essentially go look for patients. Not waiting for patients to come but if you find some source of infection, "arrest" everyone around there, given them near-overdoses of medication for a very long time (so that the odds of a single parasite surviving are almost nothing). Outside of these actions it should be almost impossible for a parasite to encounter the medicine (ie. there should be no way for patients to get it on their own initiative). Why? That would make it very hard for parasites to adapt.
(oh and if you find it in cows? Don't try to treat them, kill every cow less than 1 km or so from a known infected one, and burn them all to a crisp, in an oven, never using any part of them for anything)
But if you put it like this, it becomes pretty clear why it's not going to happen, doesn't it?