Disseminated cysticercosis with huge muscle hypertrophy

Abstract

Cysticercosis is caused by cysticercus cellulose, which is the larva of Taenia solium, the pork tapeworm. The larvae are carried in the blood stream after penetrating the walls of the alimentary tract and they lodge in different tissues like the skin, skeletal muscles, brain, fundus and heart, to cause disseminated cysticercosis. Cases of disseminated cysticercosis have rarely been reported in the literature. They may inhabit the muscles and cause muscular hypertrophy, which, at times, may assume gross proportions. Morbidity is usually caused by the involvement of the central nervous system or the eyes.