During emergency treatment, a live parasite was extracted from the brain of a guy from California; the victim is now recovering.
Luis Ortiz, who had just started his senior year at Sacramento State, reportedly had the worst headache of his life in August while visiting his mother in Napa, according to CBS San Francisco.
Paramedics took Luis to Queen of the Valley Medical Center after his mother dialed 911. He had a tapeworm in his brain, which needed immediate surgery, according to a brain scan. The doctor then informed Luis that he only had around 30 minutes to live.
During emergency brain surgery, equipment with a camera was utilized to find the parasitic tapeworm larvae that had grown in a cyst impeding circulation inside Luis’ brain.
It doesn’t sound good at all, I thought. When the doctor said that it was still writhing as he pulled it out, I thought it didn’t sound good. What are the chances that I might have a parasite in my skull, for example? Luis made a remark.

The experts hypothesized that there were numerous possible routes by which the parasite could have entered Luis’ body.
I responded, “I haven’t done any of it,” when they asked if I had recently eaten raw pig, gone river swimming, or visited a third-world nation. But I’m not sure how long the worm has been within my skull, Luis remarked.
According to CBS Sacramento, there are six primary types of tapeworms that may infect humans, and each one can be distinguished by the animal from which it originally came. Consuming undercooked meat can cause gastrointestinal parasite infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Consuming food cooked by an infected person, who subsequently spreads the larvae through shoddy sanitation and hygiene, may result in brain infection. The larvae can get to the brain after being eaten.
According to the CDC, each year 1,000 hospital admissions in the US are attributed to the pig tapeworm.
Luis expressed his desire to complete his degree and get on with his life.
Luis remarked, “It’s definitely more fulfilling to me to be alive. If I had waited a little longer, I wouldn’t be here right now.”