If that person doesn't wash their hands properly, they can contaminate surfaces and food with the eggs. After someone else swallows them, the eggs hatch and travel to the brain, where they become larvae. When larvae are in the brain, it's called neurocysticercosis.

Can tapeworms Eat your brain?

Cysticercosis is a parasitic tissue infection caused by larval cysts of the tapeworm Taenia solium. These larval cysts infect brain, muscle, or other tissue, and are a major cause of adult onset seizures in most low-income countries.

How common is tapeworm in the brain?

Earlier this spring, Nash and colleagues published a review of the scientific literature and concluded that somewhere between 11 million and 29 million people have neurocysticercosis in Latin America alone. Tapeworms are also common in other regions of the world, such as Africa and Asia.