Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may have contracted a parasitic worm that ate part of his brain after consuming a barbequed dog in 2010 during a trip to South Korea. The worm was discovered by doctors the same year after Kennedy had complained of memory loss and cognitive struggles—initially attributed to a possible brain tumor.
According to Kennedy, the parasite ate a portion of his brain before before dying. The worm’s death may have resulted from mercury poisoning, which Kennedy was also diagnosed with around the same time. When the brain worm story became public in May of this year, the independent presidential candidate claimed that he did not know for certain where he contracted the parasite. However, he acknowledged it may have been during a 2010 trip to South Asia.
Last year, Kennedy sent a photo from his 2010 trip to a friend traveling to Asia. In the photo, the independent presidential candidate can be seen with an unidentified woman holding a barbequed animal, alleged to be a dog. Kennedy reportedly accompanied the image with his recommendation of a South Korean restaurant serving dog meat, suggesting he had partaken.
The photo’s recipient says they were horrified by the image. They added, however, that the 2024 independent presidential candidate was prone to texting tasteless and offensive images to friends—including voyeuristic nude photos of women.
Parasitic worms can be passed from canines to humans through means other than dog meat consumption—such as contact with feces. However, a 2001 study from Henan Medical University in China found that several large-scale outbreaks of parasitic worm infections in the country could be directly attributed to dog meat consumption.
Kennedy insists the image actually shows a barbequed goat, and that it was taken in Latin America.
