Girl Has 8ft Tapeworm Removed From Her Body After Eating Contaminated Sushi

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Doctors in Taiwan have found a tapeworm measuring 2.6 metres (8ft 6in) inside a 8-year-old girl who loves eating sashimi – a Japanese dish made of slices of raw fish.

A family member of the girl reportedly said she experienced itchiness in her rectum after eating the dish at a restaurant in Taipei.

The girl is said to have recovered after surgeons removed the tapeworm from her rear and prescribed medication to her.

Wang Zhijian, a paediatrician from the hospital, told Apple Daily that the unnamed girl had contracted a type of tapeworm called “diphyllobothrium latum”.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Diphyllobothrium latum is the largest human tapeworm and is also known as fish or broad tapeworm.

The tapeworm could be contracted by the consumption of raw, contaminated pork, beef or fish.

Doctors said her illness could be caused by contaminated raw fish, after the girl’s family told the doctors that she loved eating sushi, especially sashimi.

He Shengyuan, a doctor in charge of mass education at the hospital, said that the tapeworm was most likely living inside the young girl for more than a month.

Dr He said the tapeworm was alive and moving in her rectum when the doctor removed it.