Spectacular find in a surgery in Australia: At a hospital in Canberra, doctors have a live roundworm, eight inches long in Brain removed from a 64-year-old woman. In which parasites is the species Ophidascaris robertsi, which is normally only found in pythons occurs, according to a new study published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
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The neurosurgeon who operated on him was completely baffled and consulted colleagues, the Australian Guardian reported on Tuesday. “This is the first human case of Ophidascaris to be described anywhere in the world,” said Australian media, quoting Professor Sanjaya Senanayake, senior infectious disease specialist at Canberra Hospital and co-author of the study. “As far as we know, this is also the first case where the brain of a mammalian species, whether human or otherwise, is affected.” Doctors described the worm as “alive and squirming”.
Abdominal pain and diarrhea for weeks
In early 2021, the New South Wales state patient initially complained of weeks of abdominal pain and diarrhea, followed by a dry cough and night sweats. A year later, his symptoms also included forgetfulness and depression. The woman was then taken to Canberra Hospital. An MRI of her brain turned out to reveal abnormalities that required surgery.
The abnormality in the woman’s brain
© Photo: APA/AFP/THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSI/HANDOUT
“But the neurosurgeon certainly never thought he would find a squirming worm,” Senanayake told The Guardian. “Neurosurgeons regularly deal with infections in the brain, but this was a unique finding – no one expected it.”
Wild plants and grasses may be the cause
But how did the parasite get into the Australian’s brain? The woman lives in a lake area where carpet pythons also live, she said. Although she has not had direct contact with snakes, she often collects native wild plants and grasses around the lakes to use in cooking. The researchers presume that a python may have released parasite eggs in the grass feces. The patient was likely infected after touching grass and transferring worm eggs to food or cooking utensils.
However, an Ophidascaris infection is not transmitted between humans, the scientists emphasized. “Therefore, this patient’s case will not cause a pandemic like Covid-19 or Ebola.”