
Brain Parasites, California’s Hidden Health Problem - georgecmu
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2012/09/06/tapeworm-in-her-brain/
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jgrahamc
One prominent (at least in this community) sufferer of this is Sarah Lane (of
TechTV and TWiT).

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Lane#Personal_life>

"On October 11, 2009, Lane was at a Los Angeles restaurant with a friend when
she experienced a severe tonic–clonic seizure, went into spasms and blacked
out. It was apparently her first such seizure. She was rushed to a nearby
hospital, where she apparently stayed for a couple of days before being
diagnosed with a lesion on her brain and eventually put on anti-seizure
medications and discharged. Lane wrote on her blog that further diagnosis
revealed that neurocysticercosis tumors have developed as a result of her
contracting cysticercosis."

[http://www.sarahlane.com/blog/2009/11/1/sarah-the-goddess-
of...](http://www.sarahlane.com/blog/2009/11/1/sarah-the-goddess-of-brain-
tumors-part-2.html)

~~~
speg
IIRC, she also spent a year traveling the world before this happened. I think
I remember her saying she picked up the parasite abroad.

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pfedor
_The CDC says an estimated 1,900 people are diagnosed with neurocysticercosis
within the United States yearly._

In other words, on the same order as the number of people who die from cancer
per day in the US. I guess I'm going to continue to be more worried about
other health problems.

~~~
maxerickson
Whether you choose to worry about it or not, California might be able to save
an awful lot of money with interventions that avoid a $66,000 surgery.

~~~
yummyfajitas
Or they might not. According to the article, the early treatment is "hundreds
of dollars" - for simplicity I'll assume it's $660. If we apply early
treatment to 100 people for every surgery prevented, we merely break even.

Early treatment and disease screening is not a panacea. Sometimes it makes
sense, sometimes it's more harmful than doing nothing.

~~~
theorique
_A new car built by my company leaves somewhere traveling at 60 mph. The rear
differential locks up. The car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside.
Now, should we initiate a recall? Take the number of vehicles in the field, A,
multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-
court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of
a recall... we don't do one._

~~~
onetimeuse001
In this pig case the PERSON himself might not be willing to spend $XXX given
the odds. Let's face it we make such decisions each day: we face a million
types of diseases and a million ways to die. Not to mention that we smoke,
drink, eat red meat, buttered popcorn, ice cream...

~~~
theorique
True.

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SlipperySlope
This parasite can be eradicated worldwide. We need pigs to be penned where
they cannot eat human feces - its that simple.

Who else thinks that if the Hebrews had figured that out long ago, then Hebrew
and Muslim diet restrictions might today be more permissive?

~~~
vectorbunny
I think Hebrew dietary restrictions may be more instructively viewed as a
mechanism to enforce group cohesion than as a primer on suggested health
practices. It is difficult to mix with other groups when you cannot eat with
them. Matrilineal line of descent serves the same function. Children fathered
by in-group men with women outside the group are simply excluded, while in-
group women face censure for the same behavior. There are structural reasons
why Jewish culture has remained distinct in diaspora, while many other
disjoint populations are absorbed by host populations over time.

~~~
trhtrsh
Why forbid pigs, and not cows? Why catfish, not cod? Vulture, not chicken?
Even within a framework, there are reasons for specific decisions.

~~~
vectorbunny
Agreed, there are always reasons for specific decisions. In the three cases
you've mentioned, the banned flesh is from animals that are carrion eating
scavengers.

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david_shaw
Not directly related to the article, but it seems pretty risky (and
potentially not HIPAA compliant) to release photographs of software with
protected health information on them.[1]

I do a lot of work with security in the healthcare field, and I'm pretty sure
it's a big no-no to release information like that. Where it gets interesting
is that I'm confident that the patient herself okayed the information... so
where does that leave responsibility for the PHI?

I don't actually know the answer, but I'd certainly be interested in finding
out.

[1]: [http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-
blog/files/2012/09...](http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-
blog/files/2012/09/MIB7.jpg)

~~~
maxerickson
Cursory googling suggests it is fine. E.g.:

[http://www.rtnda.org/pages/media_items/rtndas-guide-to-
healt...](http://www.rtnda.org/pages/media_items/rtndas-guide-to-health-
coverage-under-hipaa427.php)

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Tichy
I was half expecting an article about startup fever.

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mbreese
Thanks... and now I have something else to be paranoid about.

~~~
jtheory
Your risk isn't far off from your risk of getting struck by lightning, and a
tiny fraction of the risk you'll get in a car crash.

There's no limit of the ills that might befall you, if you're willing to dip
that low (honestly, I've no idea why the article is written as if this is a
big deal); so you can save your paranoia for something a bit higher up the
scale. :)

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jfb
Adds to the list of things I _won't_ miss about California.

~~~
iProject
Actually, in the details of the story you find that you can "enjoy" the
infection elsewhere...

"Only five states — New York, California, Texas, Oregon and Illinois — report
the disease, and the data is inconsistent. Oftentimes, departments rely on
each other to deal with paperwork, and the numbers are never recorded, Smith
says. As a result, not much is known about tapeworm outbreaks in the U.S. — or
the parasites themselves."

It also sounds as though the long dormancy of the _symptoms_ make it extremely
difficult to determine where it was contracted.

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onetimeuse001
all other things aside, that $66K tag can send 95% to see a bankruptcy lawyer.

~~~
dmix
"The most common form of payment is Medicaid, a tax-funded public service. In
Los Angeles County, the economic impact is even more pronounced, costing
$66,000 on average, the increase likely due to the high cost of health care in
the state, says Frank Sorvillo, a University of Los Angeles professor of
epidemiology."

~~~
onetimeuse001
not everyone has Medicaid, usually the lower middle class gets hosed (too much
money to qualify for Medicaid, but barely making ends meet.)

Now that you mentioned it, they probably they charge individuals well over
$100K if Medicaid pays $66k

