--- title: Live Tapeworm Pulled Out of Man's Brain description: The creature was apparently "still wiggling" during the surgery canonical: https://time.com/4102974/live-tapeworm-man-brain/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-06T17:16:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:24:57.053Z article:section: Health og:title: Live Tapeworm 'Still Wiggling' When It's Pulled Out of Man's Brain og:description: The creature was apparently "still wiggling" during the surgery og:url: https://time.com/4102974/live-tapeworm-man-brain/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f534aa1440911b0/69886ff03c16394bd845a975/tapeworm.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5190 og:image:height: 2919 og:image:alt: 123530242 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Live Tapeworm 'Still Wiggling' When It's Pulled Out of Man's Brain twitter:description: The creature was apparently "still wiggling" during the surgery twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f534aa1440911b0/69886ff03c16394bd845a975/tapeworm.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Live Tapeworm 'Still Wiggling' When It's Pulled Out of Man's Brain by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Nov 6, 2015 5:16 PM UTC  tapeworm tapewormLondon Scientific Films—Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Nov 6, 2015 5:16 PM UTC After experiencing severe headaches and vomiting, a California man was found to have [a live tapeworm inside his brain](http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-live-tapeworm-in-brain-20151105-story.html). The man, 26-year-old Luis Ortiz, was rushed to the hospital by his parents after blacking out. Doctors saw in X-rays that his brain was swelling and that the worm was inside of a cyst, the L.A. _Times_ reports. A surgeon was able to perform a very complicated and delicate surgery to remove the entire cyst without bursting it, which could lead to infection. When the surgeon pulled it out, the worm was apparently “still wiggling.” It’s unclear how Ortiz caught this tapeworm, but it likely came from something he ate (perhaps uncooked pork) and moved to his brain from another part of his body. The ordeal led to some memory loss, but after rehab and cognitive therapy, Ortiz has now been released from the hospital. \[[_L.A. Times_](http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-live-tapeworm-in-brain-20151105-story.html)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4102974/live-tapeworm-man-brain/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4102974/live-tapeworm-man-brain/"},"headline":"Live Tapeworm 'Still Wiggling' When It's Pulled Out of Man's Brain","datePublished":"2015-11-06T17:16:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:24:57.053Z","description":"The creature was apparently \"still wiggling\" during the surgery","url":"https://time.com/4102974/live-tapeworm-man-brain/","keywords":["Neuroscience"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f534aa1440911b0/69886ff03c16394bd845a975/tapeworm.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f534aa1440911b0/69886ff03c16394bd845a975/tapeworm.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"123530242","caption":"tapeworm","creditText":"London Scientific Films—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/neuroscience/","name":"Neuroscience"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4102974/live-tapeworm-man-brain/","name":"Live Tapeworm 'Still Wiggling' When It's Pulled Out of Man's Brain"}}]}] ```