Tennis legend Leander Paes’ success mantra is to focus intensely on the path to achieve goals. He was addressing a gathering during a discussion on ‘Wellness and the Web of Life’ conducted by Tulah Clinical Wellness as part of Manorama Hortus, Malayala Manorama’s three-day art and literary festival in Kozhikode. Recollecting the 2003 Australian Open mixed doubles final with Martina Navratilova, Paes said he had a severe headache while playing the summit clash.
The next day, the 1996 Olympic bronze medalist took medical advice because he had blurred vision. One of the greatest double players had to undergo 30 MRI scans and a biopsy test. It was the doctors from India who diagnosed that Paes had a parasite infection named neurocysticercosis or NCC, and not cancer. “Though I regained health, my body structure changed, and I had put on weight. Many thought I wouldn’t be able to play again but came back to the court with a vengeance,” he noted.
Neurocysticercosis, which affected Paes
According to the Centre for Disease Control, NCC is caused by a tapeworm found in pork. A person gets it by swallowing microscopic eggs passed in the faeces of a person who has an intestinal pork tapeworm. If someone eats undercooked and infected pork, they can get a tapeworm infection in their intestine and have tapeworms in their faeces.
If they don't wash their hands or body properly after using the bathroom, they can contaminate food or surfaces with faeces containing these eggs.
Once inside a human body, these eggs hatch and become larvae, which travel to the brain, causing neurocysticercosis. According to the World Health Organisation, it's a preventable infection. The symptoms of NCC are severe headache, blindness, convulsions, epileptic seizures and visible or palpable subcutaneous nodules. The treatment of the condition varies depending on the individual but is mostly done through preventive chemotherapy and assisted medications.