Re: Tapeworm and dangers of empirical treatment

Hello, Wrayc.

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Sparganum proliferum from the pseudophyllidium class of cestoda.
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Nasty one.




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There has been implications of virus infection influencing this parasite (cofactor?)
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Now we're getting somewhere.






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, including the budding and immortality characterisitics.
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Think really HARD about this. Next, try to find out what many "weird-looking" formations in the Peritoneum REALLY are. Think beyond the books. It's the only way, at least to my knowledge.



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There doesnt seem to be an effective treatment for this. Although I have read a couple cases treated with alternating courses of mebendazole then praziquantel over a period of weeks with success. I wander though why not albendazole since it is DOC for tapeworm infection over mebendazole and better absorbed. Possibly albendazole was not available at the time of the research? Although I know the mechanisms are similar but do differ in that mebendazole creates a permanent blockade of glucose uptake, while albendazole is dependant on constant contact. In one case they actually attempted to treat with thiabendazole; very odd.
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Think "Let's try this to see what it does".







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NOTE: this is a particularly dangerous disease, such as what occurred with the man in San Fran. All the cases that I read that were inappropriately treated with mebendazole were fatal. This underscores the peril of treating infections empirically, regardless of the intention (monique).
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Night sweats + back pain MUST/SHOULD be an Infection/Infestation of some sort, no doubt about it. If there is no doubt about it, then that issue becomes irrelevant, I would say.

A more important issue would be then, in my opinion, to try to figure out and/or to understand how, why and when those Infections/Infestations grew, and due to what Possible Underlying Cause, if there is any to be found. Tweet