Doctors occasionally see patients with such bizarre or rare conditions that they chronicle the cases in scientific journals to share their findings. These medical case reports give us fascinating insight into unusual conditions and how they are treated.
Here are 10 of the oddest medical cases we covered in 2024.
Related: Our 10 oddest medical case stories from 2023
1. A worm was growing in a man’s brain after he ate undercooked bacon
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Bacon lovers, look away. A middle-aged man in the U.S. got a nasty shock when he went to the doctor, complaining of a migraine. It turns out, he’d been infected with the larvae of Taenia solium, a tapeworm that usually infects pigs. The larvae had embedded themselves inside the man’s brain in small sacs, or cysts, causing him to experience swelling and pain in the back of his skull. Doctors speculated that he developed the infection after eating undercooked, “soft” bacon and not properly washing his hands after using the bathroom.
2. A probiotic supplement caused a fatal bloodstream infection
People take probiotics for various reasons, including to promote a healthy gut and immune system. However, probiotics can occasionally trigger bloodstream infections known as probiotic-related bacteremia; this is most likely in people who have a weakened immune system or abnormalities in their gastrointestinal tract. This is what happened to a man in his 70s in Japan who was given probiotics to treat a bacterial infection, which, alongside multiple other medical conditions, led to his hospitalization. The bacteria within the supplement infected his bloodstream, and he developed multiorgan failure and died.
3. Live worms grew under a woman’s eyelid
In another parasite case, a 41-year-old woman in China repeatedly visited the hospital after feeling like she had something in her right eye. At her second visit, doctors discovered she had four live, white worms wriggling around under her eyelid. The worms belonged to a species called Thelazia callipaeda, which causes the parasitic disease thelaziasis.
4. A woman discovered she had lung cancer after going blind in one eye
A 32-year-old woman found out she had lung cancer after suddenly going blind in her right eye and experiencing occasional flashes of light in her left eye for almost three weeks. Doctors ran several tests and noted that she had lesions growing in her eyes, as well as fluid accumulation that caused the retina in her right eye to detach. A chest X-ray and whole-body scan later revealed this was caused by a tumor that had originated in the lower part of her right lung and had later spread to her eyes.
5. A parasite lived in a woman’s eye for two years
This case casts a whole new light on the question “Do I have something in my eye?” For two years, a 28-year-old woman in the Democratic Republic of the Congo had a parasite living in her left eye. The critter, which typically lays its eggs in snakes, had grown to about 0.4 inches (10 millimeters) long and embedded itself under the conjunctiva, the clear outer membrane of the eye, causing her to develop a rare eye infection called ocular pentastomiasis. Doctors suspected that she may have caught the parasite from eating contaminated crocodile meat.
6. A breakdancer developed a head bulge after repeatedly head spinning
A breakdancer developed a large lump on his scalp known as a “headspin hole” after spending too much time spinning on top of his head. The dancer reported practicing head spins for almost 20 years and trained around five times a week; each time, he spent around two to seven minutes putting direct pressure on the top of his head. This caused him to develop the bulge, which doctors had to surgically remove.
7. Tuberculosis caused a crusty wart to grow on a man’s hand
A crusty, giant, yellow wart that developed on a man’s hand turned out to be an immune response to an infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes tuberculosis (TB). TB usually attacks the lungs, but in 1.5% of cases, it affects the skin; this can happen if the bacteria enter the body through an open wound or abrasion. This type of TB can be treated with antibiotics.
8. A woman’s gut microbes brewed their own booze
A 50-year-old woman ended up in the emergency room seven times over the course of two years with symptoms such as excessive sleepiness and slurred speech, which made it seem as if she were drunk. However, she hadn’t had a drop of alcohol. That stumped doctors, though, because they could smell alcohol on her breath. Upon closer examination, they discovered that she had an extremely rare condition known as auto-brewery syndrome, in which fungi in the gut ferment carbohydrates in a person’s diet into alcohol.
9. A cyst in a man’s spinal cord triggered years of premature ejaculations
After a 32-year-old man spent around two years experiencing painful and premature ejaculations, doctors discovered he had an oval abscess known as a Tarlov cyst compressing nerves near the base of his spinal cord. These nerves relay movement signals and deliver sensory information from the pelvis. Compression of these nerves can cause sexual dysfunction, such as in this man’s case.
10. Six family members were infected with parasitic worms after eating bear meat
A dinner at a family reunion led six family members to develop a worm infection called trichinellosis. This occurs when people accidentally eat the larvae of a Trichinella roundworm, which normally infects animals such as bears, wild boars and wildcats. The family reportedly shared a meal that included black bear (Ursus americanus) meat, which was served rare after being frozen for 45 days.
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