Imported sparganosis in Canada

The first case of human sparganosis in Canada is reported in a 23-year-old woman who emigrated from Greece in 1969. Examination of a ribbon-like worm removed from a painful swelling in the neighbourhood of her right biceps muscle revealed a single larva, about 110 mm. long and 2.5 mm. wide, subsequently identified as the plerocercoid larva or sparganum of a member of the genus Spirometra. The source of this infection, acquired in Greece, may have been undercooked pork.