Those flat lengthy worms that sometimes get into your intestinal tracts through consumption of under cooked food could affect humans in more than one way.
Scientists belonging to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention detected a new cancer-like condition in a 41-year-old man, who was infected by a common parasitic tapeworm.
The man, from Colombia, was HIV-positive. He had not been taking medications. In 2013, he went to doctors with cough, fever and complained of weakness and weight loss.
Biopsies were taken from the man's lymph nodes and lung tumors. Doctors identified some lesions that looked like human cancers. However, lab tests showed that they were not human.
Doctors were puzzled by the growth pattern, which was definitely cancer like, with too many cells crowded into small spaces and they multiplied quickly.
However, these cells were about 10 times smaller than the normal human cancer cell, and fused together.
After several tests, in the middle of 2013, researchers at CDC found DNA from Hymenolepis nana, the dwarf tapeworm, in the man's tumor. Subsequently, the man died.
The dwarf tapeworm is a common tapeworm found in humans. It infects when people eat food that has mouse feces on it, or ingest feces from an infected person. It often affects children.
According to the CDC, in people with weak immune systems, like HIV-infected people, it thrives.
While infections of the tapeworm are rarely found outside the small intestine, the Colombian man's weak immune system may have enabled the parasite's cancer to spread through his body.
It is not yet known whether human cancer treatments help in such conditions. The CDC urged physicians in developing nations to be aware of the possibility of similar illnesses.
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