Unbelievable! See the 6-Foot-Long Tapeworm Removed from a Man's Gut in India (See Photos)

 

Doctors in India removed a lengthy pork tapeworm from a man's gut, according to a recent report of the man's case.

 

The report according to LiveScience was performed by Dr. Cyriac Philips a liver specialist at PVS Memorial Hospital in India who treated the man. The tapeworm, which goes by the scientific name Taenia solium, was nearly 2 meters (6.6 feet) long. 

 

The 48-year-old man told the doctors that he had been having abdominal pain for two months before he sought medical attention, according to the brief report of the man's case, published today (Jan. 25) in The New England Journal of Medicine.

 

The doctors performed a colonoscopy, and found a segment of an undulating worm in the man's colon, Philips told Live Science. 

 

In patients with tapeworms, doctors typically find segments of the parasite in the gut, Philips said. But in this case, the piece of the parasite in the man's colon was only a part of the story.

 

Next, the doctors performed an endoscopy, meaning that they inserted a camera into the man's stomach and the upper part of his small intestine, to explore the upper part of the man's digestive system, according to the report.

 

They were surprised to find a whole worm curled up in the upper part of the man's small intestine, Philips said.

 

The doctors were able to remove the worm by pulling it up through the man's mouth, according to the report. The intact tapeworm spanned 1.88 m (6.2 feet), the doctors wrote.