Never seen before: Strange ‘living and wriggling’ worm found in woman’s brain

In January 2021, a 64-year-old Australian woman experienced a rare case of health symptoms which caused her to go to the local hospital at the end of the year. He told doctors he suffered from abdominal pain and diarrhoea, fever, a constant dry cough, shortness of breath and night sweats. However, he never thought that his symptoms would be caused by an animal.

Doctors took breath samples and a lung biopsy, but found no parasites. In 2022, the woman increased her symptoms and began to suffer from forgetfulness, problems with thought processing skills, and depression. . But what was it? Specialists could not find out the reason.

The bizarre case led to a transfer to Canberra Hospital, where doctors performed an MRI, revealing an abnormality in the right frontal lobe of the brain that required surgery. They thought it might be a tumor.

Neurosurgeon Dr. Hari Priya Bandi was in charge of the procedure. In the operating room, he says he felt something “quite abnormal”. When he positioned the forceps to remove the suspected tumour, he detected a linear object. “I immediately thought it was some kind of cable, but then I realized it was moving,” he said, “‘Get it off my hands right now! “

“Everyone was shocked. And the worm we found was coming out of the brain happily and vigorously,” Dr Bandi said. Found a 8cm long parasitic worm living in patient’s brain , something I had never seen or heard on record. I urgently called infectious disease doctors to find out what to do next.

Study co-author Dr Sanjaya Senanayake, a leading infectious disease expert at the Australian National University (ANU), was quietly in a hospital ward when his colleague called him and told him “My God, you wouldn’t believe what I just said. said, found in the brain of this lady, and He is alive and writhing.”

The hospital team quickly met to determine what type of ascaris it was and thus provide the appropriate treatment. They sent the worm to the Australian Government Scientific Research Agency (CSIRO) laboratory where they identified it as Ophidascaris robertsi, a roundworm common to carpet pythons. (type of snake), which normally infects the esophagus and stomach of snakes.

“This is the first described human case of Ophidascaris anywhere in the world,” Senanayake said in a statement. release .

But how did he manage to find the woman? Doctors and scientists involved in the case believe that the patient was infected with the parasite through contact with the eggs of the worm, as he often collected native herbs, such as warrigal, for use in cooking.

Although she has no direct contact with carpet pythons, the woman lives in southeastern New South Wales, near an area near a lake inhabited by the reptile. That is why, they believe that a piton she may have spread the parasite on the grass through her feces, and the patient was probably infected by touching the native grass or after eating the vegetables.

Senanayake also believed the parasite had infected other organs, including his lungs and liver.

Ophidascaris robertsi roundworms are common in carpet pythons and live in the esophagus and stomach of pythons. The ANU describes them as “incredibly hardy”, allowing them to thrive in a wide range of environments.

In the study, published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases the researchers describe humans as “accidental hosts” and note that no human infection with an Ophidascaris species has been previously reported.

“To our knowledge, this is also the first case involving the brain of a mammalian species, human or otherwise,” Senanayake said. Fortunately, the patient is recovering well and is regularly monitored by health personnel.

In retrospect, the woman’s symptoms were likely caused by the migration of roundworm larvae to other organs, such as the liver and lungs. . Senanayake points out that this case warns of the growing risk of diseases being transmitted from animals to humans.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), three-quarters of new or emerging infectious diseases in humans come from animals.

“There have been around 30 new infections worldwide over the past 30 years. Among emerging infections worldwide, about 75 percent are zoonotic , which means that there was transmission from the animal world to the human world. This includes coronaviruses,” said Dr.

Even if Ophidascaris infection would not cause a pandemic like Covid-19 because it is not transmitted from person to person, it is likely that there will be new cases, since the snake and the parasite also live in other parts of the world, thus increasing the number of cases. possibility.

The main message of Dr is that you have to pay attention to hygiene, because in recent years, animals and humans have come closer together and there could be cross-contamination.

“It shows that as the human population grows, we are approaching and invading animal habitat. It’s a problem we see time and time again, whether it’s the Nipah virus that jumped from wild bats to domestic pigs and then to humans, whether it’s a coronavirus like Sars or the Mers that evolved from bats to eventually a secondary animal and then to humans. . Dr Senanayake issued a warning to the BBC.

“Even if the Covid disappears little by little, It’s really important for epidemiologists…and governments to ensure good surveillance of infectious diseases. »

To prevent infections, simply wash your hands after touching objects that could be inhabited by animals. And properly clean vegetables, herbs and fruits.