Can tapeworm kill you? All you need to know

Consuming uncooked or contaminated food may put you at high risk of a tapeworm infection suggest experts.

On Wednesday, the death of Nihar Thacker, a 17-yr-old boy from Mumbai shocked everyone.

The district level badminton player had suffered from an epileptic stroke and succumbed within 3 days of being admitted to a hospital where he was on ventilator support.

The alleged cause of death was known to be neuro-cysticercosis, popularly known as tapeworm infection.

While the death is the rarest of rare occurrence, according to Dr Sanjay Mongia, a Mumbai-based neurosurgeon, Divya Nair spoke to several health experts to understand the health problem.

The causes

According to the World Health Organisation, 50 million deaths in the world are due to food-borne illnesses.

Tapeworm infection is a very common source of illness among Indians, notes Dr Rahul Chakor, professor and head of neurology, Nair Hospital and TN Medical Hospital, Mumbai.

The reasons for the infection could be consumption of uncooked food or contaminated food.

Poor hygiene and sanitation plays an equally important role in triggering the infection says Dr Mongia.

"If you eat food (veggies or meat) that is not washed or cooked well (20 minutes is the standard cooking time), you stand a chance of contamination. That's how adult tapeworm enters the intestine -- through food. Once it enters, it stays there and starts showing signs of diarrhoea, nutritional deficiency and headache. When the tapeworm enters the nervous system, it starts laying multiple eggs due to which a patient may suffer from fits or epilepsy."

Human or pig excreta are carriers of this bacteria. So are handlers -- people who serve food at restaurants or malls, warns Dr Chakor.

A tapeworm can typically be up to one metre long while the larvae can be anything less than 1 centimetre.

The symptoms

The trickiest part about detecting tapeworm infection, according to neurologist Dr BK Mishra is that the symptoms are basic -- headache, diarrhoea, stomach infection, most of which could be mistaken for food poisoning. "The more you read about the symptoms, you will panic unnecessarily," he says.

However, according to Dr Mongia, if the above symptoms are frequent, and reoccur, one needs to be cautious.

Dr Mongia recommends stool examination and CT scan so that the infection is treated before it spreads to the rest of the body -- liver and brain in particular.

Treatment

The length of the tapeworm decides the nature of treatment.

When detected at early stage (when the tapeworm is inside the intestine), doctors prescribe pills that can be taken orally. These pills help fight the infection and flush it out of the body through your bowels.

If the tapeworm exits the intestine and enters the liver or brain, normal functioning of the body is affected, and depending on how serious it is, surgery may be required to get rid of the infection.

Prevention

Health experts unanimously insist on personal hygiene and sanitation standards to prevent the spread of this infection.

Here are some things you must and can do to help:

• Avoid having uncooked or raw food that is not washed or cooked well. If the meat or veggies are washed and cooked well, there is a minimal chance of infection.
• Be wary of eating at a restaurant that doesn't meet hygiene and sanitation standards.
• Wash your hands well after you use the restroom.
• Wash your hands before eating, cooking and serving food.
• Cut your nails from time to time and clean them to avoid settling of dirt or any form of physical matter.
• Ensure proper disposal of foecal matter.
• Avoid going near dumpyards where pigs defecate or having food from unhygienic sources.
• Avoid consuming veggies that are grown in areas that are prone to contamination. Avoid buying greens grown near the railway tracks.
• It is important where and how you store your meat. Refrigerate it at 10 degrees (or less).
• Do not consume any meat that is more than five days old.

Lead image used for representational purposes only. Image: Xiangfan/Reuters