Live tapeworm, 'still wiggling,' removed from California man's brain

[Renew Deal]

Luis Ortiz can’t remember much about his nearly three-month hospital stay this fall. He said his brush with death started with an intense headache.

After suffering debilitating pain that spurred fits of vomiting, Ortiz was taken to a Napa Valley hospital, where doctors found a live tapeworm trapped in the depths of his brain.

“It was still wiggling and moving around,” the 26-year-old Napa native said.

Doctors don’t know how long the worm had been living inside Ortiz, but it likely moved its way from another part of his body and settled into a ventricle in the middle of his brain, said Janet Bruneau, an acute care nurse practitioner at Queen of the Valley Medical Center.

How the parasite entered Ortiz’s body is a mystery. Swimming in an infected lake, eating uncooked pork or dirty fruits and vegetables could do it. But Ortiz said he can’t remember doing any of those things.
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http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-84940827

[Tommy_Carcetti]

1. They put creatures....in our bodies.....to control our minds.