Doctors discovered something disturbing after a 31-year-old mother from Gartland, Texas, complained of headaches.
After Yadira Rostro, 31, started having headaches, her condition began to deteriorate.
"Sometimes my sight was impaired... I could not see properly," Rostro told WFAA.
Doctors quickly determined the cause was sacs of larvae from eight tapeworm eggs in her brain, USA Today reported.
"They looked a little bit like eggs, and they have a clear sac," neurosurgeon Richard Meyrat of Methodist Dallas Medical Center told WFAA. "And inside it, a small tapeworm."
Meyrat believes Rostro picked up the parasite after eating food contaminated with fecal matter; the fact that it wound up in her brain was merely bad luck.
He added that he’s never seen a case like this before.
"I think shes just happy to be alive," Meyrat said. "Her headaches are gone, and she's feeling better.”
Rostro is grateful for the relief.
"I'm very grateful to God that I'm in his hands," she said.
With Rostro’s permission, Methodist Dallas Medical Center shared a video of doctors removing the larvae, but she has decided not to look at the footage.
Sources: WFAA, USA Today
Photo Credit: Methodist Dallas Medical Center/WFAA