The parasite may be normally restricted to other animals but grew in an AIDS patient because his immune system was so weak. We do not want people to become afraid over this one report. If more are found, then there may be reason to worry. Fajardo is a pathologist at Stanford and chief of pathology at the Department of Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System. The parasite appears to have been more aggressive than tapeworms or other common parasites.
Tapeworms usually remain in the intestine, eating digested food and ignoring surrounding organs.
This parasite, however, spread from the intestines in a large, tumor-like mass. Doctors are unsure whether that mass was a tangle of large tubes or a group of smaller organisms. The patient, identified only as an accountant, was admitted to Kaiser in March 1994. Already diagnosed with AIDS, he suffered from back and abdominal pain, weight loss, night sweats and fevers. He died after nine weeks in the hospital.