除去大脑绦虫后该男子生命被挽救

Man's Life Saved After Tapeworm Removed from Brain 除去大脑绦虫后该男子生命被挽救

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.

A California man who was feeling sick almost died recently from a shocking cause.

26-year-old Luis Ortiz went to a hospital because of a headache and nausea¹. When doctors examined him, they were shocked to find a tapeworm larva in his brain.

The story gets stranger. The larva was still alive.

The creature had caused a cyst to form inside his head. The cyst was restricting the flow of liquids to different areas of his brain. The situation was so serious that doctors said they had to perform an emergency operation to remove the larva.

The Associated Press reports that a doctor who operated on Ortiz told him he had only 30 minutes to live. The California man told ABC News that when the doctor pulled the worm out of his head, it was still moving.

Luis Ortiz was a student at California State University in Sacramento. He began experiencing headaches in late August, he told a local newspaper. But Ortiz said he did not think the headaches were serious.

In September, he visited a friend and his parents in another city. That is when the pain got worse. His mother reportedly saw Ortiz throwing up. She took him to a hospital emergency room.

Ortiz told ABC News that he was “shocked.” He said he "couldn't believe something like that would happen” to him. He said he did not know there was a parasite² trying to ruin his life.

The doctors saved Ortiz’s life. However, the surgery also affected³ it. According to ABC News, Ortiz had to drop out of school and move back home. It said, for now, he is not permitted to work or drive a vehicle.

Tapeworms and other parasitic⁴ worms usually infect a person’s intestinal⁵ system. In rare cases, they infect the brain.

Doctors suspect Ortiz ate something containing the tapeworm. You can get a tapeworm from food that is unclean, and contaminated with tapeworm eggs. People can get them from eating infected, undercooked or uncooked pork. Another type of tapeworm can infect beef.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the U.S. has about 1,000 reported cases of tapeworms each year. The CDC adds that tapeworms are more common in developing countries with poor public health systems.

According to CDC officials, signs of infection with a parasitic worm include stomach pain, nausea, loss of appetite and weight loss. Others signs are a lasting⁶ headache and vomiting⁸.  

The best way to avoid a tapeworm infection is to wash fruits and vegetables. Also, make sure meat is cooked thoroughly⁹. The CDC suggests cooking all meats to an internal temperature of at least 63 degrees Celsius¹⁰.

Separately, the CDC says tapeworms could spread cancer. This comes after studying the case of a Colombian man who died after "catching¹¹" the disease from a tapeworm that had infected him.

Words in This Story

nausea – n. the feeling you have in your stomach when you think you are going to vomit⁷

cyst – n. a growth filled with liquid that forms in or on your body

contaminate – v. to make (something) dangerous, dirty, or impure¹² by adding something harmful or undesirable¹³ to it : contaminated – adj.

intestine¹⁴ --– n. a long tube in the body that helps digest food after it leaves the stomach intestinal – adj.

appetite – n. a physical desire for food

1 nausea   

n.作呕，恶心；极端的憎恶(或厌恶)

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕期常有恶心的现象。
• He experienced nausea after eating octopus.吃了章鱼后他感到恶心。

2 parasite   

n.寄生虫；寄生菌；食客

参考例句：

• The lazy man was a parasite on his family.那懒汉是家里的寄生虫。
• I don't want to be a parasite.I must earn my own way in life.我不想做寄生虫，我要自己养活自己。

3 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

4 parasitic   

adj.寄生的

参考例句：

• Will global warming mean the spread of tropical parasitic diseases?全球变暖是否意味着热带寄生虫病会蔓延呢？
• By definition,this way of life is parasitic.从其含义来说，这是种寄生虫的生活方式。

5 intestinal   

adj.肠的；肠壁；肠道细菌

参考例句：

• A few other conditions are in high intestinal obstruction. 其它少数情况是高位肠梗阻。 来自辞典例句
• This complication has occasionally occurred following the use of intestinal antiseptics. 这种并发症偶而发生在使用肠道抗菌剂上。 来自辞典例句

6 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

7 vomit   

v.呕吐，作呕；n.呕吐物，吐出物

参考例句：

• They gave her salty water to make her vomit.他们给她喝盐水好让她吐出来。
• She was stricken by pain and began to vomit.她感到一阵疼痛，开始呕吐起来。

8 vomiting   

吐

参考例句：

• Symptoms include diarrhoea and vomiting. 症状有腹泻和呕吐。
• Especially when I feel seasick, I can't stand watching someone else vomiting." 尤其晕船的时候，看不得人家呕。”

9 thoroughly   

adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地

参考例句：

• The soil must be thoroughly turned over before planting.一定要先把土地深翻一遍再下种。
• The soldiers have been thoroughly instructed in the care of their weapons.士兵们都系统地接受过保护武器的训练。

10 Celsius   

adj.摄氏温度计的，摄氏的

参考例句：

• The temperature tonight will fall to seven degrees Celsius.今晚气温将下降到七摄氏度。
• The maximum temperature in July may be 36 degrees Celsius.七月份最高温度可能达到36摄氏度。

11 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

12 impure   

adj.不纯净的，不洁的；不道德的，下流的

参考例句：

• The air of a big city is often impure.大城市的空气往往是污浊的。
• Impure drinking water is a cause of disease.不洁的饮用水是引发疾病的一个原因。

13 undesirable   

adj.不受欢迎的，不良的，不合意的，讨厌的；n.不受欢迎的人，不良分子

参考例句：

• They are the undesirable elements among the employees.他们是雇员中的不良分子。
• Certain chemicals can induce undesirable changes in the nervous system.有些化学物质能在神经系统中引起不良变化。

14 intestine   

adj.内部的；国内的；n.肠

参考例句：

• This vitamin is absorbed through the walls of the small intestine.这种维生素通过小肠壁被吸收。
• The service productivity is the function,including external efficiency,intestine efficiency and capacity efficiency.服务业的生产率是一个包含有外部效率、内部效率和能力效率的函数。