MEDICAL BAG
Unusual ailments from around the world, including a mystery brain disorder, nightmare worm stories and a woman who believed she was a chicken
RECORD TAPEWORM
Thailand’s Parasitic Disease Research Center has reported finding an 18-metre (60ft) long tapeworm in a patient in Nong Khai. The patient had submitted a fæcal sample at a mobile testing unit which revealed telltale tapeworm signs. Medication was used to bring out the parasite, which had entered the patient’s body as a result of eating uncooked beef. The record-breaking Tæenia saginata was the longest-detected tapeworm in 50 years. They can live in people for 30 years, but advances in medication usually makes this an unlikely occurrence. thaivisa.com, 22 Mar 2021.
HEAD CASES
Two gruesome reports from the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Following an MRI scan, doctors initially thought a 25-year-old Australian woman’s chronic headaches were caused by a brain tumour. However, during an operation, they discovered a cyst of tapeworm larvæ in her brain. She has since made a full recovery.
A Japanese woman’s sore throat was caused by a worm hitching a ride on one of her tonsils. Doctors at St Luke’s International Hospital in Tokyo removed a nematode roundworm with tweezers after the patient complained of throat pain. The patient said she had eaten assorted sashimi five days earlier. 15 July; D.Telegraph, 5 Oct 2020.
STRANGE LACUNA
A woman lost her short-term memory when she went for a dip last November. Sue Hodge, 66, a member of a women’s sea swimming group in Newquay, Cornwall, has no recollection of going to the beach or entering the water. Her friend Sue Semley, who was with her, said: “I called her name and she was just staring, didn’t know where she was and became more agitated.” Mrs Hodge’s next memory is of doctors telling her seven hours later that the cold water had triggered transient global amnesia. She said she would steer clear of the sea for now. Metro, 9 Dec 2020.
TEMPORARY CHICKEN
“Clinical zoanthropy, the conviction of having turned into an animal, is a rare delusion. There have been only 56 case descriptions in medical and historical literature between 1850 and 2012. Patients have reported believing that they are a dog, lion, tiger, hyena, rhinoceros, rabbit, horse, snake, bird, wild boar, gerbil, and a bee. This delusion can occur with an underlying psychiatric disorder, but it can also be secondary to structural or functional disorders of the brain.
“In this case report, we describe a 54-year-old woman who was briefly convinced she was a chicken. She had no history of drug or alcohol abuse, and was found by her brother in her garden clucking and blowing her cheeks before crowing like a rooster. On arrival at an accident and emergency ward, the woman expressed her conviction of being a chicken, and spoke of feeling new sensations in her limbs. Following a seizure, thoughts of being a chicken no longer plague the woman, and she was said to be embarrassed by the episode. With this case report, we hope to contribute to documenting this rare, bur possibly underreported phenomenon.” Tijdschift voor Psychiatrie (Utrecht), 62 (2020) 7, 582-586.
Curiously, this phenomenon is presented as distinct from clinical lycanthropy, a delusion that the affected person can transform into, has transformed into, or is, a wolf. This again is distinct from folkloric lycanthropy – a wild talent in which humans are said to physically shapeshift into wolves.
MYSTERY BRAIN DISORDER
A mystery illness is baffling Canadian doctors. For over a year, public health officials have been tracking a cluster of 43 cases of suspected neurological disease with no known cause. Symptoms includes spasms, muscle atrophy, memory loss and hallucinations. Such a small number of cases has meant that tracing the illness’s cause has proved difficult. Residents of the Acadia region of New Brunswick first learned of the investigation in March 2021 after a leaked memo from the province’s public health agency asked physicians to be on the lookout for symptoms similar to CreutzfeldtJakob disease. But despite initial similarities, screening produced no confirmed cases of CJD, the rare and fatal brain disease caused by misformed proteins known as prions. “We don’t have evidence to suggest it’s a prion disease,” said Dr Alier Marrero, the neurologist leading the investigation. “We are collaborating with different national groups and experts; however, no clear cause has been identified at this time.”
Now a team of researchers is seeking to establish whether they are dealing with a previously unknown neurological syndrome, or a series of unrelated, but previously known, and hopefully treatable, ailments. Dr Marrero said patients had initially complained of unexplained pains, spasms and behavioural changes, all of which could be easily diagnosed as symptoms of anxiety or depression. But over 18 to 36 months they began developing cognitive decline, muscle wasting, drooling and teeth chattering. A number also experienced frightening hallucinations, including the feeling of insects crawling on