The patient reported that he had abdominal pain and bloody diarrhea before seeing part of the worm hanging out of his body while on the toilet, Banh said. He started pulling on the long, stringy item until it was all the way out.
“And what does it do? It starts moving,” said Banh.
The patient was actually relieved that it was a tapeworm ― a parasite that can grow in the digestive tract ― and not his organs spilling out of his body. But he was understandably curious about where the worm came from.
Banh said that when he questioned the man about possible risk factors — like whether he had traveled to any developing countries, whether he had been drinking well water — only one detail stood out as a likely explanation. The man said he absolutely loved sushi and consumed raw salmon “almost every day,” Banh recalled.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the most common tapeworm to infect humans is Diphyllobothrium latum. People become infected after eating certain types of raw or undercooked fish, including salmon. And The Washington Post notes that salmon from the Pacific coasts of Asia and North America can be infected with a type of tapeworm known as Diphyllobothrium nihonkaiense.
Properly cooking the fish — or, in the case of sushi, flash-freezing it at a low enough temperature — kills these worms. The CDC notes that most cases are asymptomatic, though infection can cause symptoms like abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting and even vitamin B12 deficiency and anemia.
Banh told ABC30 that the worm had most likely been growing inside the man’s body for about six months. And the man had eaten sushi at so many different places, it would be impossible to figure out which location was responsible.
The good news is, getting rid of an infection is easy and only takes one dose of a deworming medication. Even so, Banh told Post that the patient “swore off sushi” — at least for now.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/blakemontgo...9RY#.ifXYQ5Qzy