In what scientists are calling a world first, a 3-inch worm was found alive after doctors performed surgery on the brain of an Australian woman.
The worm was pulled from a 64-year-old woman last year, who had been suffering from symptoms including stomach pain, cough, forgetfulness and depression, according to the findings documented in a study in the Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
She was admitted to the hospital in January 2021, where a scan found an “atypical lesion within the right frontal lobe of the brain.” She underwent a biopsy in June 2022, where the “string-like” worm was pulled from her brain and according to doctors, the parasite could have been alive in her brain for up to two months.
“It was definitely not what we were expecting. Everyone was shocked,” operating surgeon Dr. Hari Priya Bandi told BBC News.
The woman, who lives in New South Wales, Australia, is recovering well.
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Researchers believe this is the first-ever instance of a human infection from an Ophidascaris robertsi, a roundworm nematode parasite usually found in carpet pythons, which is a snake found in Australia.
In the journal, researchers hypothesized that the woman, who lived near a lake and “often collected native vegetation” to use in cooking, and she may have inadvertently consumed eggs containing the parasite either directly from the vegetation or indirectly from contamination from her hands or other kitchen equipment.
