An unnamed resident of Dijon, France, went to the hospital after she began to increasingly feel strange twitching in her legs, as if from an electric current.
The 25-year-old French woman adored horseback riding, but in the past three months it has become increasingly difficult for her to ride due to incomprehensible twitching in her legs. Because of these twitches, she even fell off the horse several times until she finally went to the doctors.
When the doctors gave her an MRI, they found round white masses in the upper spine. These formations were located right inside one of the vertebrae.
According to doctors, it was nothing more than the blisters of echinococcus - parasitic worms that are usually transmitted to humans from sheep (intermediate host) or dogs (final host). Echinococcus blisters probably pressed on the spine, which caused twitching in the legs. Without treatment and with blistering growth, the woman could have serious complications in the future.
How exactly the woman became infected is not yet clear, she does not have dogs and she has not come into contact with sheep. Whether it is possible to contract echinococcus from horses is unknown. However, the woman has a cat, and cats can also be carriers of the infection, but whether she was tested is not specified.
After the blisters were found, the woman underwent an operation to remove them, and then a medication course of treatment was prescribed. After 9 months, no new foci of the disease were found and her condition returned to normal.
Echinococci are tapeworms, the length of which does not exceed 3-5 mm, but when it enters the body of an intermediate carrier, the worm becomes overgrown with a bubble (Finnish) and there can be a large number of such bubbles.
Promotional video:
The bubbles grow slowly and can reach the size of the baby's head. Most often in humans, echinococcus is found in the liver, less often in the lungs, muscles and other places.
Echinococcus bubbles. Illustrative photos.