Tapeworm Cancer In HIV Patient

A man in Colombia who was living with HIV developed tumors that looked nothing like any cancer doctors had previously encountered. As his condition worsened, researchers discovered that the abnormal cells did not come from the man himself. Instead, they originated from a parasitic tapeworm whose own cancerous cells had spread into his body. Doctors concluded that his severely weakened immune system, impaired by HIV, allowed the tapeworm cancer cells to survive and grow, making it the first known case of a person developing cancer that originated in a parasite.

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