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Brain Worms: A Scientific Inquiry

A scientific inquiry

According to a 2012 deposition, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. once suffered from, in his own words, “a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died.” The vague yet alarming description could apply to any number of parasitic ailments, among them angiostrongyliasis, baylisascariasis, toxocariasis, strongyloidiasis, and trichinosis. A common final destination for the larvae is the brain, where they enclose themselves into cysts in the hopes of maturing; eventually, unable to complete their life cycle, they die, leaving behind little more than a calcified nub. (Kennedy first sought help after experiencing memory loss and mental fogginess, though he recently told the Times that those symptoms have since resolved and that he hadn’t received treatment for the parasite.)

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