New fear unlocked.

One patient showed up at the ER for hip pain following a bad fall, only to learn there were calcified parasites embedded in the soft tissue of their body.

I’d need to be sedated after hearing that news.

Sam Ghali, M.D., an emergency room doctor, took to X to share what he deemed “one of the most insane X-rays” he’s seen to date. 

“Now, what is jumping right out off the screen at us here is this film is littered with these linear densities, and they’re everywhere,” he explained in the video on X. “They’re innumerable. You can’t even begin to count them all.”

You might be wondering…what exactly are they?

“Essentially, these are larval cysts of taenia solium—also known as the pork tapeworm,” Ghali said.

Excuse me…what?

“The life cycle begins with a human consuming raw or undercooked pig, and then that person becomes infected with the worms in their GI tract and passes the eggs along to another unfortunate human who then consumes them,” Ghali continued. “These cysts can travel anywhere throughout the entire body.”

Hate that.

Ghali noted that the patient hadn’t even experienced symptoms of this condition, known as cysticercosis, and they’re at no immediate risk of anything life-threatening. In fact, they only had an X-ray because they fell and were experiencing hip pain.

It’s also important to note that cysticercosis isn’t exactly a result of eating raw pork. It actually occurs as a result of contact with tapeworm-infected human feces.

You use the restroom, walk out without washing your hands, sit down to finish your lunch, and whoops—you just ate a little shit. Or, better yet, someone else didn’t wash their hands after using the bathroom and before preparing your lunch. Now you’ve eaten someone else’s shit.

If that person just happens to have tapeworms from eating raw pork, you’re now at risk of cysticercosis.

Ghali’s incidental findings also shed light on a much larger potential issue.

“What happens is they lodge here and over time, they calcify, and that gives them this classic appearance known as rice grain calcification,” Ghali explained. “The problem is when these travel to the brain and lodge there, that can cause very serious issues. That is known as neuro-cysticercosis.”

Once the larval cysts reach the brain, they can cause headaches, confusion, seizures, and sometimes even death.

Moral of the story?

“Do your best to keep clean, always wash your hands, and never, ever eat raw or undercooked pork,” Ghali said.