Sushi lover finds 5ft tapeworm dangling from his rectum and yanks it out himself

A man who ate sushi daily found a 5.5ft tapeworm in his intestine, which he then removed himself, before handing it over to a doctor.

After pulling out the tapeworm, the man, who remains unnamed, wrapped it around a cardboard toilet paper tube before handing it in to Fresno's Community Regional Medical Center in California.

Doctor Kenny Bahn, who was on duty at the time, said the patient arrived at the hospital complaining of "bloody diarrhea" and asked to be treated for tapeworms.

"I get asked this a lot," the doctor told the "This Won't Hurt A Bit" podcast. "Truthfully, a lot of times I don't think they have it."

However, this particular case was different and Bahn was astonished to find that the patient had pulled the tapeworm out of his bottom.

According to the doctor, the man was using the bathroom when he realised he had what looked like a piece of intestine hanging out of his body.

"He grabs it, and he pulls on it, and it keeps coming out," Bahn added. "He then picks the thing up, looks at it, and what does it do? It starts moving."

The unfortunate sushi lover was then immediately transferred to the emergency room, where he was treated with an anthelmintic, a single-treatment de-worming medication used on humans and dogs alike.

Tapeworms can be contracted in different ways, but the man had neither travelled out of the country nor engaged in any abnormal behaviour. However, he admitted eating raw salmon sashimi on a daily basis, which the doctor suggested might have caused the tapeworm infestation.