Recently, doctors were shocked by what killed a British man with HIV . He died of cancer ... but the fatal disease was technically not even his .
The cancer actually began inside a tapeworm that lived inside him. Tumors that spread throughout his body were the parasite. This unique case might even be the first known of medicine where a cancer killed his host parasite.
The New England Journal of Medicine, the man was diagnosed to have a Hymenolepis nana tapeworm seven years after being diagnosed with HIV.
The analysis showed that his lungs were riddled with small tumors that were less than 2 inches in diameter. The many tumors were so small they do not even look human.
Flickr / euthman
This is when they tested the growths - and contained H. nana DNA.
Unfortunately, the patient died 72 hours after the strange discovery.
Wikipedia
(via iflscience)
most people do not know they have this kind of worm and their immune system eventually get rid of it. However, given that this man had HIV, the immune system was compromised. Thus, parasitic cells have increased tremendously, allowing the possibility of carcinogenic mutations to increase.
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