Taeniasis-Cysticercosis, the worm that kills

Apr 22, 2019 Features / Columnists, Letters, News

DEAR EDITOR,
I want to thank Kaieteur News in advance for publishing my experience living with parasite. What is known as Tete in Guyana had been a nightmare for me and many people all over the world. I hope people suffering from this can help themselves. Before migrating abroad, I tended to cattle and sheep after leaving high school. Tending over a hundred heads of cattle and seven hundred heads of sheep especially during prolong rainy season was a lot to deal with when you start to sink close to your knee.
I notice little black spots on my ankle with an itch that follow. This has been going on for a year before I started looking for help. I went to a guy that does this type of treatment that dress the ankle with a poultice and it was shocking to see the result of all the holes that was on my foot with white marble like cyst. He applied the treatment to the next ankle, which had no sign of any spot and the same thing happened. I started to wonder if the guy spread it to the other foot to extract money from me but he told me that it usually hides in the other foot.
I migrated to the US without a cure and after a few months, I started to have severe headache. It was around the same time I saw on TV a show called “Monsters inside me: Tapeworm Invades Brain”. After more research, I found the name of the disease is Taeniasis – cysticercosis caused by tapeworm in the flesh in the form of a cyst. It has a cycle from eating meat (pork, beef, lamb etc.) to faeces on grass to animal or from an egg in an animal pen through a cut on your feet. I am not saying don’t eat meat. I still eat meat. I am saying meat should be properly cooked. By the time it shows sign on the skin, it has already invaded the body. Only a matter of time before it destroys the spine and brain. I come to the conclusion that one of my cousins died because of this. I got the treatment in one of the videos and self medicated.
I took a dose of albendazole suspension 10ml everyday for twenty eight days and stop for a week, then continued the treatment for another week to make sure any new larva from any eggs from the first day of treatment is gotten rid of. I heard albendazole is in some tablets but I don’t know how it will work. After five years, I haven’t had any of the symptoms. I knew someone that was suffering and I got the albendazole suspension for him and he is fully cured. I hope sufferers can consult their doctor and free themselves from this parasite. One can go to the internet and search for “Taeniasis – Cysticercosis” on images and on Youtube. Also please take care of the animals around us. They also experience suffering from parasite.

David Singh

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