Imagine that an 8 cm worm lives in your brain! This nasty tenant was removed from the brain of a 64-year-old patient in Australia. The case is considered unprecedented because this type of roundworm is usually found only in python snakes.

An 8 cm long worm was found in the patient’s brain. Photo: Canberra Health/Reproduction/ND

The case was recently reported by doctors at Canberra Hospital in Australia. The woman was admitted to the institution with symptoms of a viral infection, but she had to undergo surgery. Information taken from Portal R7.

The worm surprised even the medical team

The patient was admitted to the hospital with severe abdominal pain, diarrhoea, dry cough, fever and night sweats. After that, he began to forget and depression. The doctors there were already intrigued…

After examination, the team found that the problem was in the 64-year-old woman’s brain. During the procedure, the neurosurgeon removed an 8 cm parasite. The team was surprised, but did not understand what it was about.

The patient was then referred to doctor Sanjay Senanayake, an infectious disease specialist. “Neurosurgeons routinely deal with brain infections, but this discovery happens once in a lifetime. Nobody expected this,” he said.

The worm was later found in the laboratory: it ophidascaris robertsy, commonly found in pythons, but never in humans.

The parasite is commonly found in python snakes. Photo: Dzul Dzulfikri/Disclosure/ND.

unpublished case

It was the first case in the world of human infection with such a worm. Initially, it is suspected that the patient was infected by touching local grass or by eating vegetables harvested in an area where pythons live, as she lived in a region where snakes are common.

The medical team carried out treatment to destroy the larvae in other parts of the patient’s body, which continues to be monitored and has neuropsychiatric consequences, but survived.