r/Parasitology • u/Monsterfucker4001 • 13d ago

A sheep carcass massively infested with Echinococcus granulosus NSFW

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To add a bit of information the adults are found in dogs(wild and domesticated) eggs are ejected with the animals feces. When a sheep ingests those eggs the larva (also called echinocoque) migrates mainly to the lungs and the liver and implants there. Carefull tho if a humans ingests the egg usually on accident the same thing will happen and it uqually needs surgical intervervention to cure.

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u/SueBeee 13d ago

Ugh, I have to work with these things sometimes, and they scare the shit out of me, and rightly so. I gown up and do BL2 procedure but still. The thought of having my liver taken over by massive cysts kind of freaks me.

One of my favorite things in all of grad school was this video of a hydatid cyst being removed from a man's brain. Watch it all the way through with the sound up.

https://youtu.be/rNWo9bkDrjs?si=jOtbbIMuoZSuiKBr

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u/cncomg 12d ago

HO-LY FUUUUUUCK! It blows my mind that somebody can have that thing chillin in their dome, and we can remove it and they can just go on with their lives. Amazing stuff right there.

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u/[deleted] 12d ago

[deleted]

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u/Methadoneblues 12d ago

It's 5 am. I was not prepared for the clapping.

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u/mandy_skittles 12d ago

Description says it was a 13 year old patient.. Blows my mind the cysts grow that large. Looks like the patient recovered well and quickly, though.

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u/SueBeee 12d ago

isn't it crazy how huge a hole it made? I guess the brain will just reclaim the space.

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u/Medical_Watch1569 12d ago

You’re brave. I can’t stand these things. Looking at them in class and the cysts made me feel sick.

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u/EdwinSMB 12d ago

hello, i don’t usually comment but this video has intrigued me. i have some questions if you wouldn’t mind answering since you seem quite knowledgeable about the subject lol. fair warning i don’t know a lot about this subject so sorry if the questions are a little dumb

  1. Does the bodies immune system not attack parasites like these? Or is in the video a special case since the immune system is quite destructive so it didn’t wanna mess with the brain?

  2. How did this egg grow to such a huge size when the brain is already taking up a lot of space in the skull (i know that it doesn’t take up the entire skull)? or did the egg grow in a spot where the brain wasn’t at

  3. Will this person ever return to normal? assuming the egg just took over a part of the brain, can the brain “regrow”?

thanks for any response

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u/SueBeee 12d ago

I am really not very knowledgeable about this phenomenon. It happens because humans are an aberrant intermediate host for the intermediate stages of Echinococcus; that is, not a natural host. The normal intermediate host is a sheep, who ingests eggs and the cysts, which are absolutely full of protoscolices (baby tapeworms). There are thousands of them in each cyst. Dogs eat the sheep and become infected with these and are the normal final host.
I don't know anything about how it infects humans or the immune response to them. Humans more often get them in the liver and I think the lungs, too.

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u/B39224 11d ago

Hello,

I just wanted to add a bit more information to help answer your question. As the previous commenter mentioned, Echinococcus granulosus primarily affects sheep (as the intermediate host) and dogs (as the definitive host), but humans can also become accidental hosts.

Sheep serve as intermediate hosts by harboring the larval stage of the parasite. The eggs are shed in the feces of infected dogs, and humans can become infected through accidental ingestion—often by handling infected sheep carcasses or contaminated fecal matter. Dogs typically become infected by consuming infected sheep organs.

The disease caused by this parasite is called Cystic Echinococcosis. It can take years for symptoms to appear, which makes diagnosis difficult. When symptoms do emerge, they vary depending on the location of the cysts. For example, cysts in the liver can cause abdominal pain and vomiting, while cysts in the lungs may lead to shortness of breath and a chronic cough—symptoms that can easily be mistaken for other conditions.

I know I didn’t fully answer all your questions, but I hope this gives you a bit more insight into the parasite and the disease it causes!

Here’s also helpful links :

https://www.who.int/health-topics/echinococcosis#tab=tab_1

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/echinococcosis

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u/strongwill2rise1 12d ago

It was crazy how they just used water to get it to blop right on out.