Doctor warns people against eating undercooked pork with disturbing CT scan illustrating the damage

Sausages are a breakfast staple in many countries, but few consider the dangers of eating them undercooked. Recently, M.D Sam Ghali–who goes by @EM_RESUS on X–shared a startling CT scan of a person's thighs where numerous white spots are visible alongside the bone structure. "Here's one of the craziest CT scans I've ever seen. What's the diagnosis?" Ghali captioned the post. Ghali, who is an ER doctor and uses his X account to teach people about medical emergencies, shared the explanation behind the bizarre-looking CT scans.

Dr. Ghali revealed that the diagnosis is called Cysticercosis, a parasitic infection caused by ingesting larval cysts of Taenia Solium, also known as pork tapeworm. "Their life cycle is absolutely wild and sort of complicated, but I'm gonna break it down here and hopefully make it easy to understand," Ghali wrote in his post.

To contract this infection, a person must consume undercooked pork containing larval cysts. "After several weeks (usually around 5-12), these cysts evolve within the gastrointestinal tract into mature adult tapeworms. This condition is known as Intestinal Taeniasis. These adult tapeworms then shed eggs, which are in turn excreted into human feces. It's very important to note that it is only when these eggs are ingested via fecal-oral transmission that one can develop the clinical syndrome known as Cysticercosis," he added.

But the life cycle of these nasty creatures gets even more complicated. When the eggs are ingested by humans or pigs, they release larvae that end up penetrating the intestinal walls and "enter the bloodstream via mesenteric venules and from there can spread to literally anywhere in the entire body." The infection can cause damage to an individual's brain, eyes, subcutaneous tissues and skeletal muscles. "The larvae lodge wherever they end up and ultimately form cysts known as cysticerci. The host's inflammatory response typically ends up killing off the cysts, which subsequently undergo calcification, giving them the classic appearance you can appreciate on this CT scan. These are commonly referred to as rice grain calcifications," Ghali explained.

He added that things could get even worse for the infected individual if the larvae end up traveling to the brain, forming cysts and affecting the brain tissues. In case that happens, the condition is called neurocysticercosis. Infected individuals can experience headaches, confusion and seizures and face severe neurological problems. "The prognosis for Cysticercosis is generally good, but unfortunately, some cases are fatal. It's estimated that around 50 million people worldwide are infected each year, resulting in 50,000 deaths. Treatment options include anti-parasitic therapy, steroids, anti-epileptics and surgical removal," he wrote, concluding the post by advising people to stay clean and never eat undercooked pork meat or pork sausages. 

The X community had a range of reactions after learning about the demerits of ingesting undercooked pork meat. @FeminineWild commented, "Prolonged inflammation of the synovial membrane that causes a non-specific reaction called rice body. This can be linked to many different types of arthritis conditions. Am I right?" @plexuz shared, "Parasitic calcification in musculature cysticercosos? Pork tapeworm's lifecycle includes pigs as the intermediate host and humans as the definitive host. If humans eat human, feces-contaminated food, they become incidental intermediate hosts with multiple calcified cysticerci in muscles." @FlaDoggieLuver added, "Me rushing to the hospital now for an immediate CT scan!"