An emergency room doctor in Florida recently shared a case that stopped him in his tracks. First, Dr. Sam Ghali posted a CT image on X that showed a patient’s legs dotted with countless tiny bright spots. Then he invited his followers to guess the cause, as he often does to teach the public about medical emergencies.

Soon after, he shared the diagnosis. The patient had cysticercosis, a parasitic infection linked to the pork tapeworm, Taenia solium. People can pick it up when they eat undercooked pork that contains tapeworm cysts. Those larvae can pass through the intestinal wall, enter the bloodstream, and spread through the body. Doctors sometimes call the scan pattern “rice grain” calcifications because the specks can look like small grains in the muscles.

However, food is not the only risk. The infection can also spread through contaminated food or water and poor hand hygiene. In some cases, it reaches the brain and triggers headaches or seizures.

The good news is that many people recover with proper care. Doctors may use anti-parasitic medicine, steroids, seizure medication, or surgery in select cases.

Finally, the prevention message stays simple. Wash your hands well. Keep kitchens clean. And cook pork thoroughly every time.