Leo Gillick
I like my bacon almost carbonated. It’s probably a good thing, too, as one man has developed a rather nasty condition after munching on undercooked bacon for breakfast for years.
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Undercooked meat, or at least meat that hasn’t reached food-safe temperatures, can often carry nasty elements. These can be everything from diseases to rot. In this case, a man became infected with brainworms that had been able to survive his undercooked bacon habit.
What are Brainworms: Aenia solium are found in infected pigs and are a type of tapeworm. They live in the tissue and gut of pigs and are often excreted in their feces. The tapeworms can be passed to humans if pork is not cooked to a high enough temperature. They can then travel through a human’s body and, like in the case of this man, infect the brain.
The Symptoms: For the 52-year-old man from the United States, the worsening of his migraine symptoms alerted him to something wrong. He took himself to a doctor, where they prescribed him more medication. But the problems persisted, and he noticed a broader pain across his skull.
Porky Brain Worms
Eventually, doctors decided that they would take a closer look. After performing a CT scan on his brain, they noticed signs of the undercooked bacon brainworms. Cyst-like lesions could be seen across his white matter.
Bacon Brainworm Treatment: To combat the inflammation and damage done from his undercooked bacon habit, he was prescribed anti-inflammatory and anti-parasitic medicine. They had the desired effect, and within a few months, the swelling had gone down, and his headaches had lessened.
Let this be a lesson to anyone who has a predilection for undercooked bacon. The tapeworm that infected this man’s brain is transmitted through infected pigs. It can be picked up through eating pork that hasn’t reached the proper temperature or through ingesting pig feces. This will usually only happen after touching pigs.
So, in the future, it’s better to have burnt bacon than undercooked bacon. You don’t want your pancakes to come with a side of disgusting, painful, brain worms.
