Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. turned heads Wednesday when the New York Periods reported on a 2012 deposition, in which he mentioned medical practitioners experienced identified an abnormality on his brain in 2010 that he claimed was “caused by a worm that obtained into my mind and ate a portion of it and then died.”
The mind scan was ordered by physicians right after he knowledgeable memory loss and mental fogginess. Mates nervous he may possibly have a brain tumor, which experienced claimed his uncle, Senator Edward Kennedy, the yr prior to. (RFK Jr. states he recovered from the signs or symptoms and has experienced no lingering aftereffects.)
Political ramifications of this deposition aside, it has gotten folks a lot more than a minimal curious about brain parasites. Here’s what you need to have to know—though you may well not want to study this as you delight in a snack.
Are brain parasites authentic?
Of course, regardless of sounding like a little something out of a science fiction movie, mind parasites are quite real—and a lot more widespread than you might envision. The Centers for Condition Management and Avoidance (CDC) claims an approximated 11% of the U.S. inhabitants, 6 years and more mature, has been contaminated with toxoplasmosis, an an infection induced by a parasite named Toxoplasma gondii, which infects your brain. Globally, that variety is as higher as 60%. “Infection is typically maximum in places of the planet that have scorching, humid climates and decreased altitudes,” the CDC writes.
It’s not just humans, Toxoplasma also will get into the brains of anything from birds to whales. And the parasite can only reproduce in a cat’s intestine.
Toxoplasmosis is the most common parasite, but the Countrywide Institute of Overall health (NIH) suggests cerebral malaria, neurocysticercosis, and neuroschistosomiasis are other parasite-pushed bacterial infections of the nervous program. Some tapeworms can journey from your intestine to your mind, though that’s uncommon. And if you want to get primarily gross, there’s Naegleria fowleri, aka the “mind taking in amoeba,” which life in soil and heat new water, these kinds of as lakes, rivers, and scorching springs. That 1 can induce a mind infection when h2o containing it goes up a person’s nose.
(Search, we warned you not to read through this though you were taking in.)
Can parasites eat your brain?
That’s unlikely, say industry experts. Although it is extremely hard for us to know for absolutely sure whether a worm ate section of Kennedy’s mind, numerous gurus have observed that tapeworms can are living on the nutrition in the brain but don’t frequently try to eat brain tissue.
What causes mind parasites?
Typically, when persons deal parasites, they stay restricted to the digestive process, but in some cases they can vacation from the intestine into the bloodstream and as a result of the blood-brain barrier. Transmission largely will come in one particular of three means: People can grow to be infected by using foodborne transmission, exclusively by having undercooked or contaminated meat, this kind of as pork, lamb, or venison. Shellfish, like oysters and mussels, can also move it alongside. In addition, knives that slice contaminated food items can unfold the parasites to other food items objects if not cleaned thoroughly.
Animal-to-human transmission can also happen, most frequently by a cat’s feces, in the circumstance of toxoplasmosis. If the feline contracts the parasite, it can infect humans when the litter box is cleaned. (As if you wanted supplemental admonishment, but, wash your fingers, people!)
Pregnant mothers can also move an an infection to unborn young children, and there are scarce situations of transmission via organ transplants.
What are the signs or symptoms of a mind parasite?
Most individuals who are infected will never know it and never ever clearly show signs and symptoms. These who do come to be symptomatic report all the things from a fever, muscle aches, and a headache to swollen lymph nodes and a skin rash. Confusion, coordination difficulties, and improvements in alertness can also existing as indicators, says the Mayo Clinic.
For a brain tapeworm, signs or symptoms typically rely on in which cysts kind, but headaches and seizures are the most typical. The CDC states a brain tapeworm is a “leading trigger of adult onset epilepsy.”
What lengthy-time period outcomes do brain parasites result in?
Most wholesome people today recuperate from parasites like toxoplasmosis without the need of treatment and do not clearly show any extended-phrase results. In uncommon scenarios, though, there have been observed behavioral adjustments, such as stress and anxiety, despair, and hyperactivity.
One particular 2013 examine is a great deal a lot more alarming, while, suggesting that for persons with immune deficiencies, toxoplasmosis might be indirectly accountable for anything from targeted traffic incidents to suicides—even a doable induce for schizophrenia.
Can brain parasites kill you?
Technically, sure, but the odds of it happening are significantly minimal. In a 2019 examine, toxoplasmosis fatalities made up fewer than one particular-tenth of a per cent of the overall deaths recorded in 37 hospitals studied by researchers, remaining attributed to just 188 out of 247,976.
As for mind tapeworms, technically known as neurocysticercosis, people are liable for an believed 1,000 hospitalizations per year, suggests the CDC. Instances are most usually claimed in New York, California, Texas, Oregon, and Illinois. Presently, there is small staying completed to keep track of, prevent, or determine and handle neurocysticercosis.
