A man in Columbia has died and health officials believe the decline in his health can be attributed to cancer cells found in his body, which came from a tapeworm.
CBS News noted that the parasite’s host died from kidney failure, but unusual cancer cells found inside him may have contributed to his ailing health.
The odd case and findings were published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. It states that the 41-year-old victim in Medellin, Colombia, was hospitalized after experiencing a fever, weight loss and trouble breathing. Doctors said that he had HIV and no longer was taking his medication. He also had a tapeworm infestation.
After many tests, doctors found tumors in his lungs, but not just any tumors as these were very small.
"It looked like cancer, but the tumors were composed of cells that were not human," said Dr. Atis Muehlenbachs, a pathologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the lead author on the report.
The CDC team determined that there was dwarf-tapeworm DNA in the patient's tumor cells and three days later he was dead.
While a case such as this is very rare becoming a host to a tapeworm is not that uncommon. Muehlenbachs says the most effective to avoid an infection is to always wash your hands and consume only safe water and food when traveling abroad.