Brain invasion: Pork tapeworms could cause epilepsy

Should the larval worm enter the nervous system it could result in a condition known as neurocysticercosis

Once consumed, tapeworms can move through the human body attacking your eyes, tissue and most commonly the brain. Doctors have often been left puzzled by these parasites as they migrate and settle to feed on the human body, CNN International reported. 

"It had moved from one side of the brain to the other ... very few things move in the brain," said Dr Effrossyni Gkrania-Klotsas about a British man who was found to have a tapeworm moving inside his brain in 2013. This form of tapeworm had never been seen before in the United Kingdom.

Between 1953 and 2013 there have been only 300 infections of the Spirometra tapeworm and are thought to be be more common in parts of Asia.

"These worms are pretty mysterious," says geneticist Hayley Bennett from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, in Cambridge, whose team recently sequenced the genome of the rare worm. "We know it has a very complicated life cycle."

More concerning however, are the pork tapeworms which are the ones to watch for as they readily affect the brain. The pork species known as the Taenia Solium can affect humans in two forms.

The first is by eating undercooked pork from infected pigs, resulting in taeniasis - an adult worm residing in the intestine. The second is in the larval form, through contact with the feces of an infected pig or human, which can go on to infect many tissues.

Should the larval worm enter the nervous system, including the brain, it could result in a condition known as neurocysticercosis.

Once this kind of infection is inside the brain, it can cause epilepsy.

Almost a third of epilepsy cases in countries where the disease is native are people who have previously had neurocysticercosis, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The neurocysticercosis infection arises from poor sanitation and hygiene. "You can actually infect yourself," says Helmby of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, as poor hygiene, such as failing to wash your hands, could result in you eating the eggs of an adult worm living in your intestine. "Self-infection is common."

WHO confirmed that the global distribution of pork tapeworms is widespread with the numbers highest across Asia, Africa and Latin America.