Rome, August 28, 2023 – He suffered from depression The You found a worm in the brain. Yes, you read that right, just a parasite. It was performed by Canberra Hospital neurosurgeon, Dr. Hari Priya Bandi, taken from. A 8 cm roundworm the length.
For diego garbossa, Director of Neurosurgery at Molinette: “It definitely is The contagion from this parasite is surprising.” You should say that too zoonoses “They have always existed and in some parts of the world they still occur with some frequency.”
The story of the worm in the brain
The case was documented in the September issue of the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. The patient, a 64-year-old woman from south-east New South Wales, was admitted to the local hospital for the first time in late January 2021 after three weeks of suffering abdominal pain, dysentery, constant dry cough, fever and night sweats. By 2022, her symptoms had worsened from wearing it depression and memory loss, so much so that hospitalization at Canberra Hospital was required. An MRI scan of the brain revealed abnormalities that required surgery.
“A Unique Discovery”
“But the neurosurgeon certainly didn’t come expecting to find a wriggling worm,” said Sanjaya Senanayake, an infectious diseases doctor at Canberra Hospital. “Neurosurgeons regularly deal with brain infections, but this was the case a unique discovery its kind; Nobody expected to find something like this,” Senanayake continued.
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Where is the Ophidascaris robertsi?
The startling discovery prompted a hospital team to meet quickly to find out what type of roundworm it was and, more importantly, to decide on any further treatment the patient might need. “We searched textbooks for all the different types of roundworms that could cause invasion and neurological disease,” Senanayake said. However, the search was unsuccessful and they sought help from outside experts.
“Canberra is a small place, so we sent the live worm straight to the lab of a CSIRO scientist who has a lot of experience with parasites. The results showed that it was a type of worm Ophidascaris robertsi”Said Senanayake. The Ophidascaris robertsi is a round worm usually found in pythons. The patient at Canberra Hospital represents the first case in the world in which the parasite has been detected in humans. The woman lives near one Sea area where carpet pythons live.
What could have happened
“Despite direct contact with snakes, the patient frequently searched for food local herbsincluding Warrigal vegetables, around the lake to cook them,” Senanayake said. Doctors and scientists involved in his case speculate about it A python may have spread the parasite through his droppings on the grass. They hypothesize that the patient probably contracted the parasite directly from touching the native grass or after eating the vegetable.
“The patient is now recovering well and is still being monitored regularly,” Senanayake said.
animal infections
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, three-fourths of all new or emerging infectious diseases occur in humans they come from animals.
“The world’s first case has highlighted the risk of animal-to-human transmission of diseases and infections, particularly as animals begin to live closer together and have more habitat overlap,” Senanayake said. “In the last thirty years, there have been about thirty new infections worldwide,” he continued. “Of the infections occurring worldwide are about 75% are zoonoticThis means that there was transmission from animals to humans, including corona viruses. This Ophidascaris infection is not transmitted between humans, so the case will not cause a pandemic like Covid-19 or Ebola. However, according to Senanayake, the snake and parasite are also found in other parts of the world, so it is likely that more cases will be reported in other countries in the coming years.