Doctors think the worm may have burrowed through his body to his brain.
A parasitic tapeworm has been found in the brain of a man who complained of headaches for four years.
Doctors at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge and researchers at the nearby Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute discovered the creature, 1cm in length, had moved 5cm through the 50-year-old’s brain.
The parasite, known as spirometra erinaceieuropaei, causes inflammation of tissues, which can lead to memory loss, seizures and headaches, Sky News reported.
The man had first visited doctors in 2008 complaining of the symptoms and saying his sense of smell had changed, the Telegraph said.
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In 2012 though the remains of a larval worm were discovered among brain tissue and the condition was diagnosed.
The man has since been treated and made a full recovery.
It is not known how the man got the infection but the Guardian reported it has been suggested he may have picked up the parasite during one of his regular trips from East Anglia to China.
Exactly how he came to be infected is not known, but he could have picked it up from infected meat or water and the worm then burrowed through his body to his brain.
Only 300 cases of the infection have been reported worldwide since 1953.
Dr Effrossyni Gkrania-Klotsas, from the Department of Infectious Disease at Addenbrooke's NHS Trust, is quoted by the Telegraph as saying: "We did not expect to see an infection of this kind in the UK, but global travel means that unfamiliar parasites do sometimes appear."
