Skull Worms!!!!!!! Pictures included

[AwaPremed]

Hi-

I just saw the most revolting thing....SKULL WORMS! I didn't think this existed. But supposedly they come from 'pork' tapeworms. SO...I guess that means don't eat pork.

I've posted the link but this picture of the skull worms in someones brain is extremely graphic!!!!!!! Sign a form below for parental signature if you are under 30.


Parental Signature: ____________________________
I hereby, let my son or daughter see the worms that will haunt them for the remainder of their medical school career.

Enter site at your own risk:

http://curezone.com/image_gallery/parasites/brainworms/001.jpg

Photographs of a man in his 70s who was suffering from an unusual form of cancer which had eaten away at the upper portion of his skull and scalp but who had not sought any medical treatment because the condition was not causing him pain.

The man was brought to the trauma center at Stanford University Hospital (where the photographs shown here were taken) by San Mateo County paramedics who had been summoned to the scene after the man was involved in a minor automobile accident and who found him in his car in the condition pictured.

Maggots can infest the human brain, and so can certain types of tapeworm larvae (pork tapeworm).

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[Dr Who]

Um first of all, didnt this man realize something was amiss with all the maggots falling off his head?
Didnt someone else notice this before the accident, I mean it does get your attention.
Also, maggots only eat dead flesh (non vacularized) which means that a good deal of his brain is dead! How can this guy walk around and still be conscious??

I dont know, but it is mighty suspicious. But then again stranger things have happened.

 

[smc927]

Go to this page and you'll see the whole story a little better...

http://curezone.com/image_gallery/parasites/brainworms/default.asp

 

[carrigallen]

Does anyone know what type of neoplasm that is? Is it a skin cancer?

It looks like the scalp lesion ruptured from a MVC, exposing the organisms. The organisms are just an incidental finding. It makes sense that they would lay eggs in the necrotic core of a large tumor like that.

There is no CNS involvement from what I can see - it is a only lesion of the scalp/skull. Resectable probably, depending on the extent of bony involvement.

 

[Elysium]

I'm actually doing a report on this for neuro. Here's some info for ya'll:

http://www.emedicine.com/PED/topic1573.htm

 

[UCSBMed1]

I'm actually doing a report on this for neuro. Here's some info for ya'll:

http://www.emedicine.com/PED/topic1573.htm

First off, this is an old story that came out over a year ago...

Secondly, dam*it! I knew it was Neurocysterocosis! I'm studying that right now in Neuro! That's so crazy...

 

[carrigallen]

I'm actually doing a report on this for neuro. Here's some info for ya'll:

http://www.emedicine.com/PED/topic1573.htm

I am fairly uneducated about this, but these "scalp worms" just look like fly larvae to me.

These "scalp worms" are not cysticercosis - it is a different organism, different organ system, different clinical presentation.

Also, T. Solium only infects in the CNS in the cyst stage. They are relatively immobile at this point, and the organisms are small. Here is an image of cysticercosis:

 

[Blake]

*stops considering neurosurgery for a career* Damn !

 

[bigfrank]

I think I had the referenced picture on my Step I

 

[AJM]

I know the resident who saw this patient and took those pictures. He, not surprisingly, said that it was absolutely the most disgusting thing he has ever seen in his life. And as a note to the above posters, those worms were maggots, NOT cysticercosis.

He also said that even though this was a chronic exposed wound, it was very clean and there was absolutely no evidence of infection. That's because the maggots eat up any necrosed tissue - it's like having continuous debridement of the wound!

 

[AF_PedsBoy]

Ugh that is the grossest thing I've ever seen! I hate worms so much!!!!

The grossest thing I've ever seen in person was a homeless diabetic's gangrenous leg - the not bathing smell didn't help much, but the leg actually SMELLS when it gets to the point where the flesh has actually turned black

 

[Elysium]

oops sorry for the confusion. I thought for sure that when the OP said pork tape worms it was cysticerosis. My bad. This is probably why I suck at neuro...

 

[LVDoc]

That is gross! The picture on page 1 of that story is even worse!!!

How was this person still living? ....

 

[fun8stuff]

ugh, that is quite possibly the sickest thing i have ever seen while awake... poor old man... is it weird that i have had dreams of worms eating away at my wounds? yuck, those were aweful dreams. I think i have some kind of phobia...

 

[UCSBMed1]

I am fairly uneducated about this, but these "scalp worms" just look like fly larvae to me.

These "scalp worms" are not cysticercosis - it is a different organism, different organ system, different clinical presentation.

Also, T. Solium only infects in the CNS in the cyst stage. They are relatively immobile at this point, and the organisms are small. Here is an image of cysticercosis:

LOL You're right, its not Taenia. I guess when he said "pork tape worms" I thought cystericosis. Those worms were obviously maggots though, I didn't really think those were the cysts, only that he had an exposed wound due to the infection.

 

[Pyroclast]

Ugh, I knew I recognized that photo. They talked about him at the Urban Legends web site, and have another photo, where you can see more of his head. You know, just in case the first photo wasn't disgusting enough. No details on his medical condition though.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/maggots.asp#photo

 

[leiface]

I consider myself as being pretty good about handling flesh and blood, but worms?! EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW ::throws up:: Why can't they just leave us alone!?

 

[evajaclynn]

I feel ill.....

 

[SoulRFlare]

I wouldn't be suprised if those pics are fake (the "urban legend" ones)

 

[Pyroclast]

I wouldn't be suprised if those pics are fake (the "urban legend" ones)

Maybe, but the urban legend pic on the right is the exact same photo as the OP's, and the one on the left sure looks as real as the one on the right. If they're fake, then the whole thread is fake. And snopes.com seems to be pretty good at figuring out what is fake and what isn't.

 

[wam_256]

......

 

[Bigsheed920]

How do u treat someone who comes in with this? I mean you cant just patch that up.......either way very disturbing image.

 

[rpkall]

How do u treat someone who comes in with this? I mean you cant just patch that up.......either way very disturbing image.

Is it wrong that I want to take one of those computer air duster thingies in a can and blow the suckers right out of his head? I mean, something needs to be done. You can't let people walk around like that, scaring the population, can you?

What if he refused treatment? "Well, take this hat, Sir. Please."

Is that the dura that's visible there, all you budding neurosurgeons, or is that the cortex with inflammatory changes or something else?

 

[carrigallen]

Is that the dura that's visible there, all you budding neurosurgeons, or is that the cortex with inflammatory changes or something else?

I have no background in this, but I don't think the lesion is infiltrating the dura, from what little I can see. The cancer is probably only subcutaneous, with some bony invasion. The fly larvae could only reside in the necrotic core of the tumor - I doubt they could infiltrate the vascular margins.

So, I don't think it has penetrated past the skull at all. This may explain the asymptomatic presentation.

 

[Paws]

What about the picture of the little kid on the next page, with the tape worm coming out!! OMG!!! I am going to be having flashbacks all day now ...

 

[v-tach]

Yuck. Those were some pretty gross pictures.

 

[germ]

I don't like it. I want to go home now.

 

[spongebob_sq]