Story By: Buli Liang, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

This is the 12-centimetre long flesh-eating tapeworm removed from a man’s head after it had been slowly ‘eating his brain’ for over 15 years.

According to local media, Mr. Wang Lei from the city of Guangzhou in the south-eastern Chinese province of Guangdong first started to feel numbness down his left side in 2007.

Over the subsequent years, the young man continued to suffer from frail health and saw multiple specialists.

Reports said that he was first diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour and was treated accordingly.

However, the young man’s condition continued to worsen and he started to suffer frequent seizures and blackouts, according to local media.

In 2018, doctors discovered that a tapeworm was living in his brain and they advised the patient to undergo non-surgical treatment as the parasite was considered to be in a risky area to operate on.

Unfortunately, the tapeworm continued to live in Mr. Wang’s head and he recently underwent an operation at the Guangdong Sanjiu Brain Hospital to remove it.

Following the two-hour procedure, medics removed a Sparganum mansoni parasite commonly found in the intestines of cats and dogs, but rarely in people, according to reports.

Doctor Gu told local media: “The surgery was risky. The live tapeworm was moving in his brain and we had to remove all of it otherwise the leftover part could grow again.

“It is not the only case, our hospital has treated four patients this year. People should be careful when cooking frogs, snails and snakes which need to be cooked thoroughly. Also, do not drink water in the wild unless it has been boiled.”

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