A trip to India left me with 38 parasites in my brain

A trip to India left me with 38 parasites in my brainImage caption, Lowri says she is happy to be alive and healthy after her ordealByNicola BryanBBC WalesPublished30 June 2026Updated 1 hour agoThe first time Lowri Denman knew something was wrong was when she made the horrifying discovery of a metre-long tapeworm after going to the toilet."It looked absolutely disgusting, like Sellotape with like little ridges in it," said the 42-year-old from Carmarthen.It was the first symptom of neurocysticercosis, external, which left Lowri with 38 parasites in her brain causing extreme headaches, seizures and psychosis.She is one of only a handful of people in the UK who are diagnosed with the brain infection each year, which is caused by the larvae of the pork tapeworm.After spending years regaining her health, Lowri wants to turn her ordeal into something positive by raising awareness of the condition. Image source, Lowri DenmanImage caption, Lowri says her 2007 trip to India was incredibleLowri, who works in media, went on a three-month trip around India in 2007. This is where her doctor - Dr Brendan Healy, a consultant in infectious diseases and microbiology - believes she picked up the infection. Lowri made the decision to avoid meat for the trip, hoping it would help her to avoid food poisoning, but Dr Healy believes she inadvertently ate pork that contained microscopic tapeworm eggs. It was not until three years later, in 2010, that Lowri discovered the tapeworm when in a restaurant toilet and flushed it down the loo. She went to the GP but stool tests came back satisfactory and she was feeling well so life continued as usual. 'Jaws on the floor'Within a year she began getting terrible headaches.Then, in 2011, she suffered her first seizure."I was really starting to struggle getting some words out," she said."The next thing I came around and I was in an ambulance and I was like 'how has that happened? Why?'"Image source,...