An 8-centimeter live worm was removed from a woman’s brain in Australia
An 8-centimeter-long live worm was surgically removed from a woman’s brain in Canberra, Australia.
According to the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, the 64-year-old woman went to hospital in January 2021 with complaints of abdominal pain and diarrhea lasting for 3 weeks, as well as dry cough, fever and excessive sweating at night.
When forgetfulness and depression were added to her complaints in 2022, she was referred to a hospital in Canberra.
The woman underwent an MRI scan and it was decided that she would undergo surgery due to abnormal brain activity.
During the surgery, doctors removed a live worm 8 centimeters long and 1 millimeter wide from her brain.
The worm, which was sent to the laboratory for examination, was determined to be a parasite usually seen in pythons.
The study noted that there was no previous report of the parasite in humans.
It was informed that there was a lake near the patient’s home and that there was a python species around the lake where the parasite lived.
It is thought that the woman ingested the eggs of the parasite, which the snake excreted through excretion, as a result of touching the grass around the lake or using the plants collected from the environment in her meals.
