A man being treated for seizures at a US hospital was found to have had tapeworm larvae embedded in his brain from decades ago.
The 38-year-old man was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston after his wife found him shaking and speaking "gibberish" on the floor at 4am.
A study of the case, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, noted the man was combative and resisted being put in an ambulance.
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Initially unable to find anything wrong with the man - who was otherwise in good health - doctors finally ran a CT scan on his head, revealing several brain lesions.
He was therefore eventually diagnosed with neurocysticercosis.
The condition occurs when larval eggs from a tapeworm enter somebody's body and migrate to the brain. It can be fatal.
The study's authors said they believed the larvae had embedded into the man's brain 20 years ago, causing scarring.
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The patient had emigrated from Guatemala as a young man, a region where tapeworm-related conditions are more common than in the US.
The study published in the journal said the man was prescribed medication and released after five days.
In the three years since, he has remained seizure-free.
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The US Centres for Disease Control say neurocysticercosis often develops if somebody digests microscopic eggs from the faeces of somebody with an intestinal pork tapeworm.
One way this can occur is if after using the bathroom, somebody does not wash their hands, and then contaminates a food preparation area.
It is more common in poorer and less hygienic regions, the CDC says.
About 1000 people every year are hospitalised with neurocysticercosis in the US.
It is a leading cause of adult onset epilepsy worldwide.
