GURUGRAM: A worm in the brain — just a thought sends chills down one’s spine. For the parents of eight-year-old Trushika (name changed), it was a shock of their life when they came to know that their daughter’s brain was infected with tapeworm eggs.Before being rushed to a city-based hospital, Trushika suffered the toughest time of her life with severe headaches and epileptic seizures for the past six months.Trushika was diagnosed with neurocysticercosis (multiple cysts in the brain) due to which the brain swelled and she was put on steroids. Being on steroids, she gained weight — from 40kg to a bulky 60kg at this tender age. She also suffered breathlessness and had difficulty in walking.However, despite such heavy medications, her epileptic seizures and headache remained persistent. Then doctors conducted another CT scan that showed the presence of more than 100 tapeworm eggs in her brain, which probably reached her brain through the bloodstream from the stomach.At the time of admission to the hospital, she was almost unconscious.“The scan of the girl’s brain showed more than a hundred white dots, formed due to tapeworm eggs . Such an infection is caused by accidentally eating foods infested by tapeworms. When eggs reach the brain through the nervous system, they cause neurocysticercosis (NCC), which is characterised by a severe headache, epileptic seizures and confusion,” Dr Praveen Gupta, director of the hospital’s neurology department, told TOI.Doctors said her treatment began by reducing her swelling with decongestants and gradually the cysts (tapeworm eggs) were treated by starting anthelmintic therapy (used to destroy parasitic worms) followed by steroids. She gradually came back to her normal shape and has now been able to walk and resume studies.“We had absolutely no idea that our healthy and cheerful daughter could ever get such an infection. Fortunately she got treated before the eggs could hatch and do more damage to her brain,” said Trushika’s father.

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