An ER doctor recently shared “one of the most insane X-rays he has ever seen,” showing a person’s lower body infested with hundreds of calcified tapeworm eggs.

Tapeworms are parasites that usually anchor themselves to the inside of the intestines of their host, absorbing nutrients directly from the gut, but few people know that tapeworm eggs can travel anywhere inside the body of their host, from their feet all the way to the brain. Over time, these eggs calcify and are no longer viable, so they don’t pose much of a threat when they get lodged in soft tissues like muscles or fat, but they can cause a life-threatening condition known as neuro-cysticercosis when they calcify in the brain.

Photo: Sam Ghali/X

Sam Ghali, an ER doctor specializing in cardiovascular emergencies and emergency radiology, recently shared an unusual X-ray of a patient’s pelvic area that showed his body riddled with hundreds of white spots. These were all calcified tapeworm eggs that had become stuck in the soft tissues of his lower body. Interestingly, the patient had never known about his cysticercosis and he only found out when he came in for an X-Ray after falling and experiencing hip pain.

“This is a condition known as cysticercosis, essentially these are larval cyst of taenia solium, also known as the pork tapeworm,” Ghali said on X (Twitter). “These cysts can travel anywhere throughout the entire body, heavily to the muscular and soft tissue of the hips and the legs.”

Unless they reach the brain, these calcified eggs are basically harmless, they are no longer viable, but if the mere thought of being infrsted with hundreds of these rice grain-like cysts is unfathomable, you’ll want to stay away from raw or undercooked pork and fish, just to be on the safe side.

Interestingly, a couple of years ago, we featured a similarly shocking X-ray shared online by a doctor from Sao Paulo, Brazil which went viral on social media.