# You've got a brain tumor.. no wait it's ... wow that's disgusting! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 22, 2008, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-a-brain-tumor-no-wait-its-wow-thats-disgusting/473989 "2008-11-22T13:51:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-a-brain-tumor-no-wait-its-wow-thats-disgusting/473989/1 "2008-11-22T13:51:53Z")
[Brain tumor or …](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,455067,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-a-brain-tumor-no-wait-its-wow-thats-disgusting/473989/2 "2008-11-22T13:56:13Z")
And THAT is why you never visit the Brain Slug planet. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-a-brain-tumor-no-wait-its-wow-thats-disgusting/473989/3 "2008-11-22T13:59:00Z")
Nice reporting there FOXie! What kind of worm? Nightcrawler? Bot fly? Long slender slimy one? Short fat juicy one? ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-a-brain-tumor-no-wait-its-wow-thats-disgusting/473989/4 "2008-11-22T14:07:18Z")
Fox “Health News” writers really don’t sweat the informational content at all, do they? “Should we say what kind of worm it was? Do we even know what kind of worm this is?” “No, but we have a picture!” “Awesome! Okay, just call it a worm.” In summary: Beware of worms. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-a-brain-tumor-no-wait-its-wow-thats-disgusting/473989/5 "2008-11-22T14:11:36Z")
What. The EVERLOVIN’. Fuck. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-a-brain-tumor-no-wait-its-wow-thats-disgusting/473989/6 "2008-11-22T14:21:10Z")
[Brain parasites](http://eands.caltech.edu/articles/LXVI4/brainworms.html), it could be the news story didn’t say what worm it was, because there is more than one kind. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-a-brain-tumor-no-wait-its-wow-thats-disgusting/473989/7 "2008-11-22T14:22:59Z")
“Doctors emphasized that further surgery would be necessary to remove all the pinochle cards.” I like the surgeon’s reaction particularly: > [@](#): > > On a video of the surgery, Nakaji can be heard chuckling after he made the discovery. > > “I’m sure this is a very strange response for the people in the operating room,” he told [MyFOXPhoenix.com](http://MyFOXPhoenix.com). “But because I was so pleased to know that it wasn’t going to be something terrible.” Remember, folks: In Arizona, a live worm is one of the least terrible things that a surgeon can extract from your living brain. I wonder what else this guy has pulled out of the brains of Phoenix citizens during his career. A coke spoon? A frog? A used condom? He probably keeps all this stuff in his desk drawer and shows it during consultations. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-a-brain-tumor-no-wait-its-wow-thats-disgusting/473989/8 "2008-11-22T14:29:55Z")
> [@Terrifel](#): > > Remember, folks: In Arizona, a live worm is one of the least terrible things that a surgeon can extract from your living brain. I wonder what else this guy has pulled out of the brains of Phoenix citizens during his career. A coke spoon? A frog? A used condom? In all seriousness : malignant cancer. Think about it; yeah, the worm is disgusting - but now it’s **gone**. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-a-brain-tumor-no-wait-its-wow-thats-disgusting/473989/9 "2008-11-22T14:36:03Z")
I’m just blown away by the fact that its FOX News reporting on a worm that eats brains. (I mean, whatever happened to professional courtesy? :D) ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-a-brain-tumor-no-wait-its-wow-thats-disgusting/473989/10 "2008-11-22T15:25:31Z")
> [@](#): > > [D]octors said worms can come from eating undercooked pork or **spread by people who don’t wash their hands after using the bathroom** I hadn’t heard that one before. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-a-brain-tumor-no-wait-its-wow-thats-disgusting/473989/11 "2008-11-22T16:26:01Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > In all seriousness : malignant cancer. Think about it; yeah, the worm is disgusting - but now it’s **gone**. Cripes! Bring the whole room down, why don’t you? Now you make me feel all awkward and insensitive, just for joking about the worm in a paralyzed woman’s brain. But seriously, folks: if I may take a moment here to speak from the heart… we’ve had a lot of fun here tonight at the expense of people with things in their brains. But the truth is that, every day, people are waking up with things in their brains. This is happening to countless people around the world-- disadvantaged people, who have no money to remove things that get into their brains. Just think of the children who face the prospect of growing up with things in their brains. Julio is 12 years old. Since birth, he has had a Michigan State Spartans keyring in his brain. The other village children taunt him. Kwame is only 8 years old, yet he already has a colony of pocket gophers and a distributor cap in his brain. Little Kimiko is only 3, yet she cannot be legally adopted because her brain contains a critically endangered black-footed ferret. We don’t know why this happens. We don’t know how these things get in their brains. But science continues to search for an answer. We are so close, people. So, please: give generously to the Foundation for Finding Out How Things Get in People’s Brains. Every donation counts. Every penny is a step closer to a day when people no longer have things in their brains. Do it for the kids. Do it for their brains. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-a-brain-tumor-no-wait-its-wow-thats-disgusting/473989/12 "2008-11-22T16:31:38Z")
> [@Terrifel](#): > > Cripes! Bring the whole room down, why don’t you? Consider the source. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-a-brain-tumor-no-wait-its-wow-thats-disgusting/473989/13 "2008-11-22T16:56:09Z")
Zombie Humor: What worse than eating brains and finding worm? ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-a-brain-tumor-no-wait-its-wow-thats-disgusting/473989/14 "2008-11-22T17:12:15Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Zombie Humor: What worse than eating brains and finding worm? Uh-uh… Braaaaaaains? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-a-brain-tumor-no-wait-its-wow-thats-disgusting/473989/15 "2008-11-22T17:49:16Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > Nice reporting there FOXie! What kind of worm? Nightcrawler? Bot fly? Long slender slimy one? Short fat juicy one? Seriously. These things matter, “reporters”!!! But reading between the lines, the doctor mentioned eating undercooked pork, so a pork tapeworm or _Taenia solium_, is a good guess. There’s a good bit about it in the article \*\*picunurse \*\*linked to. ---
**Author:** ![parthenokinesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/cc9497/32.png) [@parthenokinesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/parthenokinesis)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-a-brain-tumor-no-wait-its-wow-thats-disgusting/473989/16 "2008-11-22T17:54:32Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Zombie Humor: What worse than eating brains and finding worm? Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-a-brain-tumor-no-wait-its-wow-thats-disgusting/473989/17 "2008-11-22T18:09:42Z")
Happy to help. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-a-brain-tumor-no-wait-its-wow-thats-disgusting/473989/18 "2008-11-22T18:20:30Z")
> [@KGS](#): > > Consider the source. Keep your personal issues with other posters confined to the Pit, please. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-a-brain-tumor-no-wait-its-wow-thats-disgusting/473989/19 "2008-11-22T18:27:23Z")
The video of them removing the still-squiggling worm was actually really cool! ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-a-brain-tumor-no-wait-its-wow-thats-disgusting/473989/20 "2008-11-22T18:59:26Z")
> [@Shayna](#): > > The video of them removing the still-squiggling worm was actually really cool! link? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-a-brain-tumor-no-wait-its-wow-thats-disgusting/473989.md?page=2)