Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon, and CNN’s chief medical correspondent, gave a rather graphic explanation of Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s battle with a brain worm.
A Wednesday report from The New York Times revealed that, in a 2012 divorce deposition, Kennedy claimed a worm “got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died.” As a result, Kennedy said he experienced severe memory loss and mental fogginess.
Gupta, who has some experience with pulling parasitic worms out of patients, told CNN’s Brianna Keilar that it’s not a common occurrence, but “it does happen.”
(Video: CNN)
The nightmare-inducing issue, the doctor said, can typically be traced to undercooked pork.
“It’s not that common, although it does happen,” Gupta said. “Typically, it starts off from people that may have eaten pork that is undercooked, and the little eggs or larvae, they can get into the food supply.”
“Ultimately, if those get into your bloodstream, they can travel all over the body,” he continued. “And this does happen, especially in places where those types of eating habits are more common.”
To better illustrate the infestation, Gupta brought an image of an infected human brain.
“Let me show you an image of this, just so you have a visual of what we’re talking about here,” he said. “You imagine this tiny little larvae gets into areas of the body, in this case the brain, and they may grow a little bit.”
“Those are the purple spots you’re seeing there in the brain,” he explained. “Sometimes they won’t cause any symptoms at all. People won’t even know that they have them. Sometimes people might have headaches. Sometimes people could develop seizures.”
“It’s not really associated with brain fog or memory problems, per se,” he added, “but they can be problematic.”
Often, as impossible as it is to imagine, no treatment is needed.
“A lot of times there’s nothing to do about it,” according to Dr. Gupta. “They’re not causing symptoms.”
But that’s not always the case.
“Sometimes there’s medications, parasitic medications, or sometimes you have to do an operation, as you mentioned,” he said, pulling out a plastic model of a brain.
“And you know, here’s a brain model here,” he said. “So you can imagine that’s sort of near the surface of the brain. If you had one of these cysts, you’d make a little bony opening in the skull and basically remove that cyst which, which sort of represents this parasite. And that is sometimes necessary as well.”
“So it does happen. It is rare,” Gupta concluded, adding that the image of a worm munching on Kennedy’s brain is a bit misleading.
“I think you don’t really describe it as having eaten the brain as much as sort of living there in the brain and possibly causing these problems,” he said.
Over on X, Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) thought the whole thing was amusing.
He quickly learned he thought wrong.
In what one user called a “heartless” post, Collins wrote, “You either die a Kennedy with a hole in the brain or live long enough to become a Kennedy with a hole in the brain.”
“Heartless, rude, disgusting and poisonous to say this,” the user shot back.
Heartless, rude, disgusting and poisonous to say this.
— Lisa Christine •. (@lisachristinect) May 8, 2024
“No,” former Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis told Collins. “Just….. no.”
“This is beyond the pale and I am a conservative telling you this,” another user stated. “Some level of human decency should transcend politics. Do better.”
Former Congressman Joe Walsh echoed the sentiment.
“This is a super disgusting tweet. Please take this down,” Walsh urged Collins. “Please be better.”
No. Just….. no.
— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) May 8, 2024
This is beyond the pale and I am a conservative telling you this.
Some level of human decency should transcend politics. Do better.
— IT Guy (@ITGuy1959) May 8, 2024
This is a super disgusting tweet. Please take this down. Please be better. https://t.co/ORbAVX4eCV
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) May 8, 2024
“You, sir,” political commentator Charlie Sykes told Collins, “are really a sick fuq.”
You, sir, are really a sick fuq. https://t.co/Vf5F0hnWkI
— Charlie Sykes (@SykesCharlie) May 8, 2024
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Author: Melissa Fine
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