Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made several claims about his health over the years, but the most shocking came Wednesday when it was revealed that Kennedy once insisted that a worm died in his brain more than one of each.
Kennedy's claim, which was reported by the New York Times, was made during divorce proceedings from his second wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy, and was intended to support his claim that health problems had reduced his earning potential.
Kennedy reportedly revealed the ailment during a court deposition, saying that in 2010 he was experiencing memory loss and severe mental confusion. He said he consulted with several neurologists who examined brain scans and suspected he had a brain tumor, and that he was scheduled to undergo surgery.
But then a doctor at New York-Presbyterian Hospital told Kennedy he believed the scans revealed a dead parasite in his brain.
The anomaly seen on his scans “was caused by a worm that entered my brain, ate part of it, and then died,” according to the article, Kennedy said in the 2012 deposition.
No medical evidence has been offered to support the candidate's claims, but the issue has sparked widespread conversation about the existence of brain worms, as well as the candidate's fitness for office.
There are several parasites that can cause damage to the human brain, but the most common in America is the pork tapeworm, had solium. In the intestines, the worm can grow from 2 to 7 meters long. Although their eggs can migrate from the intestines to tissues throughout the body, in all other organs the larvae die before reaching maturity.
Tapeworm eggs are found in the feces of an infected person and can spread to other hosts who consume food or water contaminated by the feces. If someone touches a contaminated surface and then puts their fingers in their mouth without washing their hands, they can also ingest the eggs.
Once ingested, the eggs reach the skeletal muscles or other tissues, where they form cysts and cause the disease known as cysticercosis.
According to medical experts, the condition Kennedy described sounds like neurocysticercosis, a disease that occurs when pork tapeworm larvae become encased in a cyst in the human brain.
T. solium Cysts can also enter the digestive system in contaminated pork that is raw or undercooked, causing a condition called taeniasis. The CDC estimates there are probably fewer than 1,000 cases a year, but it's hard to know for sure because infections usually don't cause anything worse than mild digestive problems, such as abdominal pain or an upset stomach.
If cysts find a home in the small intestine, they can develop into adult tapeworms in about two months. Their eggs could then spread and cause neurocysticercosis.
The parasite is typically seen in underdeveloped countries where pigs come into contact with human feces, said Dr. Charles Bailey, medical director for infection prevention at Providence St. Joseph and Providence Mission hospitals. Bailey did not examine Kennedy, but made his determination based on details revealed about the case.
“It can pass from the gastrointestinal tract and has a tendency to migrate to the brain,” Bailey said. “It can be asymptomatic until the parasite dies. “Usually when it dies, it triggers some local inflammatory response that causes swelling in that particular area that can cause symptoms.”
Those symptoms can include seizures, headache, stroke, inflammation and other cognitive or mental health problems, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The parasite is not frequently seen in the United States. According to the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, there are approximately 2,000 hospitalizations for neurocysticercosis each year in the United States.
Bailey said that in his four-decade career he has seen 10 to 12 cases, mostly from people who have lived in Latin America.
“Most of the cases I have seen have not been in travelers. “These are people who have lived in that part of the world most or all of their lives and for whom high-quality or fully cooked meat may not always have been available,” Bailey said. “It's not something that typical tourists should worry about.”
Kennedy told the New York Times that doctors told him that the cyst they saw on his scan contained traces of a parasite. He wasn't sure where he might have contracted it, but he suspected it might have been during a trip he took to South Asia. He did not require any treatment, he said.
Bailey said it is not necessary to surgically remove the parasite unless it is located in an area of the brain where it is causing problems. If it is discovered before it dies, it can be treated with oral antiparasitic medications, usually along with steroids. Symptoms can develop over months or years, Bailey said.
The presidential candidate says that over the years he has suffered from atrial fibrillation (the most common type of heartbeat abnormality), mercury poisoning, hepatitis C from intravenous drug use in his youth, and spasmodic dysphonia, a disorder neurological condition that causes your vocal cords to become too tight. together.
Kennedy campaign press secretary Stefanie Spear said in a statement to the Times that Kennedy traveled extensively in Africa, South America and Asia doing environmental advocacy work and “in one of those places he contracted a parasite.”
“The problem was resolved more than 10 years ago and he is in good physical and mental health,” he said. “Questioning Mr. Kennedy's health is a hilarious suggestion, given how competent he is.”
Kennedy, who is running to represent the American Independent Party, has been criticized for his extreme views and misinformation about vaccines.
In a 2021 podcast, Kennedy advised parents to “resist” the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's guidelines on vaccinating children. For years it has spread falsehoods about the effectiveness of vaccines and during a speech in 2022 said that COVID-19 restrictions were something a totalitarian state would do, comparing them with the conditions of Nazi Germany.
Times staff writer Faith E. Pinho contributed to this report.
