An 18-year-old man in Faridabad, India was taken to an emergency department because he was suffering seizures but it wasn't until he had an MRI that doctors found "numerous well-defined cystic lesions" in his brain.
The cystic lesions, doctors said, were consistent with neurocysticercosis, a tapeworm infection of the central nervous system.
The infection comes from larvae built up in the central nervous system, muscles, skin and eyes.
According to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, doctors Nishanth Dev and S Zafar Abbas were confused on physical examination of the teen.
"His parents reported that he had been having pain in the right groin for one week."
"He had swelling over the right eye and tenderness in the right testis."
The MRI showed the cysts had damaged his cerebral cortex (the thin layer of brain that covers the outer portion), the brain stem, and the cerebellum that sits at the back of the head above the spinal cord.
Despite receiving treatment the teen died two weeks later.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says humans can become infected after consuming undercooked food, "particularly pork, or water contaminated with tapeworm eggs, or through poor hygiene practices."
If left untreated the tapeworm can survive in the body for many years.
WHO also says the disease is a leading cause for epilepsy and a common cause for seizures.
