Cancer from a tapeworm
One man in Colombia got cancer from a tapeworm.
DNA tests confirmed the tumors were made of tapeworm cells. They had formed blobs on the man’s lungs, liver and adrenal glands. Lymph nodes had swollen in the patient’s neck to the size of golf balls, making it hard for him to move his head.
Full story:
http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/11/04/454066109/a-man-in-colombia-got-cancer-and-it-came-from-a-tapeworm
Paper:
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1505892?query=featured_home&
Image:
The dwarf tapeworm, or Hymenolepis nana, is the most common tapeworm in humans. It's 2 inches long at most.
#medicine #nejm #cancer #health
Reminds me of: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canine_transmissible_venereal_tumor
ReplyDeleteOne of the several cool things about this is that they could determine the cancer came from the tapeworm because tapeworm cells are much smaller than human cells. Disgusting but amazing.
ReplyDeleteINB4 you are what you eat.
ReplyDeleteLooking back, this comment is about as inappropriate as House on antidepressants.