Doctors were left horrified after a Chinese man's body was discovered to be riddled with tapeworms when he came in complaining of stomach ache and itchy skin, UK MailOnline reported. The unidentified man, whose love of sashimi nearly killed him, was treated at the Guangzhou No. 8 People's Hospital in Guangdong Province, in eastern China.
Scans revealed that after eating too much sashimi, a delicacy containing raw slices of fish, his body had become infested with worms. Some of the uncooked Japanese delicacy of raw meat or fish must have become contaminated, doctors said.
Once a human is infected, a tapeworm will grow inside the intestine to a length of up to about 50 feet over a period of weeks. It can survive for years and go undetected for weeks or months, in turn releasing its own eggs that infect other parts of the body, UK MailOnline reported.
Symptoms include fatigue, constipation and abdominal discomfort - which can be so mild the victim may not notice anything is wrong.
A picture posted online appeared to show the worms throughout his body, The Blaze reported.
"Research has shown that eating raw or undercooked fish can lead to a variety of parasitic infections," according to UK MailOnline. "Tapeworm infections occur after ingesting the larvae of diphyllobothrium, found in freshwater fish such as salmon, although marinated and smoked fish can also transmit the worm."
Since improved sanitation has decreased cases in poor areas, cases have increased in more developed countries due to the soaring popularity of sushi, said doctors writing in the journal Canadian Family Physician.
"The widespread popularity of Japanese sushi and sashimi (slices of raw fish) is a contributor," study author Nancy Craig wrote.
"But other popular dishes might also be implicated, such as raw salted or marinated fillets - which originate from Baltic and Scandinavian countries - carpaccio - very thin slices of raw fish common in Italy, raw salmon and ceviche - lightly marinated fish."
Meanwhile, eating uncooked food contaminated with tapeworms' eggs could eventually cause cysticercosis, when the adult worms enter a person's blood stream, Dr. Yin, of Guangzhou No. 8 People's Hospital, told the website thatsmags.com, adding that this type of infection could prove to be life-threatening once it reaches the brain.
The pictures can be viewed here.
