An Australian doctor investigating a patient’s mysteriously-lingering health issues discovered a shocking find: A parasite lurking in the 64-year-old woman’s skull.
The worm was the larva of an Australian native roundworm, called Ophidascaris robertsi, that is typically found in carpet pythons. However, a surgery team at Canberra Hospital last year found the 3-inch long parasite still wriggling during a biopsy of the patient’s brain.
“I just thought: ‘What is that? It doesn’t make any sense. But it’s alive and moving,’” surgeon Hari Priya Bandi told The Canberra Times newspaper. “It continued to move with vigor. We all felt a bit sick.”
The woman had been admitted after experiencing forgetfulness and depression over a 90-day period. Brain scans showed changes but did not immediately identify the cause. A year earlier, the woman was brought to the hospital after experiencing abdominal pain, night sweats and diarrhea.
An article detailing the woman’s case was published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
While it is not entirely clear, the researchers involved in her case said her proximity to a lake inhabited by carpet pythons could be the cause of the parasitic infection. She often collected vegetation to use in cooking, and it is believed she could have inadvertently consumed eggs of the parasite.
After the parasite was removed, the doctors said no other worms were discovered in her skull. Six months after the surgery, the woman’s symptoms have improved.
“She’s done OK, but obviously because this is a new infection, we’re keeping a close eye on her,” Sanjaya Senanayake, an infectious diseases physician and co-author of the case study, told Ten Network television.
Associated Press materials were used in this report.
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