Here’s all about the world’s first case of live parasitic worm
According to the physicians, an eight-centimeter live parasitic worm was taken from the brain of a 64-year-old Australian woman during surgery.
The first patient of a live parasitic worm case:
The woman had been admitted to the Australian National University (ANU) and Canberra Hospital after suffering from various health conditions for some time.
The doctors were astounded to discover an Ophidascaris Roberts roundworm “alive and wriggling” in her brain, given the parasite was previously known to inhabit carpet python snakes and kangaroos.
The worm’s larvae were also suspected of infecting the woman’s other organs, such as her lungs and liver.
“This is the first-ever human case of Ophidascaris described in the world,” said Sanjaya Senanayake, one of the hospital’s doctors and an infectious disease expert.
“To the best of our knowledge, this is also the first case to involve the brain of any mammalian species, human or otherwise.”
The patient showed signs of forgetfulness and depression:
The patient, from New South Wales, was brought to a local hospital in 2021 after complaining of abdominal pain and diarrhoea, among other symptoms.
By 2022, she was displaying symptoms of forgetfulness and despair, requiring a referral to Canberra Hospital.
An MRI examination of her brain revealed anomalies that need surgery. The presence of the parasite was confirmed by DNA testing following the brain scan, according to the experts.
Researchers assume the woman got the virus while picking edible plants near her home. The parasite larvae shed in snake faeces most likely contaminated these bushes.
The world’s first infection:
The infection was the world’s first, but Senanayake said it was “likely that other cases will be recognised in the coming years.”
The research was shared in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
As per the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States, more than six out of every ten recognised human infectious diseases can be transmitted by animals.
It went on to say that animals cause three out of every four new or developing infectious diseases in humans.
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