38 parasites found in woman's brain after returning from a tour in India. What is this rare brain infection?

A 42-year-old woman from the UK was on an adventure trip to India in 2007 but two years after returning back a serious health issue confronted her in 2010. She was eating at a restaurant and had to use the bathroom when she passed a meter-long tapeworm, first signs of neurocysticercosis.

"It looked absolutely disgusting, like Sellotape with like little ridges in it," said Lowri to BBC about her experience in the restaurant bathroom.

Initial reports did not reveal any findings but as months passed by Lowri Denman's health deteriorated and she suffered her first seizure in 2011.

"I was really starting to struggle getting some words out," she said and added, "The next thing I came around and I was in an ambulance and I was like 'how has that happened? Why?'".

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Immediately a CAT scan and MRI was done on Lowri's that revealed 38 parasites in her brain leaving her extremely shocked.

"Me and my mum were just jaws on the floor like, 'what on earth, what is that?'".

The doctors first thought it was toxoplasmosis, an infection spread through contact with infected cat faeces. But Lowri's mother was not convinced and asked the doctor whether the seizure was linked to the tapeworm she had discovered a year earlier.

How did Lowri pick up the infection?

Further investigations diagnosed her with neurocysticercosis, which according to World Health Organization (WHO), is caused due to consuming food such as raw or undercooked pork, water contaminated with tapeworm eggs, or through poor hygiene practices.

While Lowri was on her three-month-long tour to India she had decided not to consume meat in order to avoid food poisoning. But somehow she consumed pork that contained microscopic tapeworm eggs, which caused the parasitic infection.

She is one of only a handful of people in the UK who are diagnosed with the brain infection each year.

Regaining health

Regaining her health has been an arduous task. After coming out of hospital, Lowri was still in a bad shape and had to move in with her father in Carmarthen. From 2018 she began to show better recovery and moved back to Cardiff and pursued an interior design degree.

She eventually returned to work in 2022.

After years of health struggles, the parasites have now calcified in Lowri's brain. Her doctor Brendan Healy speaking to BBC said Lowri had received treatment to "kill all the eggs and happily now seems to be out the other end".

She has not had a seizure since 2017 but will remain on epilepsy medication for the rest of her life.