Presidential hopeful Robert F Kennedy Jr had a worm in his brain that led to a series of health concerns, new documents obtained by The New York Times reveal.

In 2012, during a divorce case deposition, Kennedy revealed his health struggles were due to a “worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died”.

According to the NYT, in 2010 Kennedy experienced memory loss and mental fog, causing one friend to become concerned.

After consulting neurologists, all of which had concluded he had a tumour, Kennedy was set to be operated on, but another neurologist had a differing opinion.

The dark spot that was apparent on his brain scans wasn’t a tumour, but a parasite that apparently devoured part of the brain and then died.

“I have cognitive problems, clearly,” he reportedly said in the deposition.

“I have short-term memory loss, and I have longer-term memory loss that affects me.”

When speaking to the NYT for the piece, Kennedy said he also discovered in 2010 he had mercury poisoning, which was potentially due to his love of eating fish.

Mercury poisoning can also cause neurological problems, along with breathing difficulties and kidney damage, along with other symptoms.

Kennedy, who is part of the famed Kennedy political dynasty, being US Senator Robert F Kennedy’s son and John Kennedy’s nephew, is running for president in 2024.

He is running as an independent and his family has endorsed Democrat Joe Biden over him.

Despite the worm, Kennedy is confident he could come out on top if he went toe to toe with former US president Donald Trump and Biden.

“I offer to eat 5 more brain worms and still beat President Trump and President Biden in a debate,” he wrote on X.

“I feel confident of the result even with a six-worm handicap.”

Tweet from @RobertKennedyJr

How to get a worm in your brain

In a statement to CNN, Kennedy’s campaign said he had travelled “extensively in Africa, South America and Asia” and he contracted the parasite on one of those trips.

In the deposition, Kennedy reportedly said a parasitic worm ate part of his brain, but speaking on CBS Mornings, Dr Céline Gounder, the network’s medical contributer, she said these types of parasites don’t eat the brain.

“The most likely one that he would have is a pork tapeworm-related cyst, and those generally will stay in place. They might grow, cause inflammation or swelling, and that’s how you get symptoms – but they’re not eating your brain,” she said.

Neurocysticercosis is a brain infection which is linked to pork tapeworms, it’s rare, with about 1000-2000 people needing to be hospitalised every year in the US, according to NBC News.

“Neurocysticercosis is a preventable parasitic infection caused by larval cysts (enclosed sacs containing the immature stage of a parasite) of the pork tapeworm,” the CDC explained.

“The larval cysts can infect various parts of the body causing a condition known as cysticercosis. Larval cysts in the brain cause a form of cysticercosis called neurocysticercosis which can lead to seizures.”

People usually get sick when they eat raw or undercooked pork and it spread when someone shed tapeworm eggs when they relieve themselves, not wash their hands and then someone unknowingly touches a contaminated surface.

After swallowing an egg, the larvae can then make its way from the intestine to the brain.