In a shocking incident, Australian doctors discovered an 8 cm long-live parasitic roundworm inside a woman’s brain. Reportedly, the worm is usually found inside snakes and Kangaroos.
According to a report by news agency AFP, the woman was experiencing symptoms of memory loss and depression. According to The Guardian, a 64-year-old woman from south-eastern New South Wales, was first admitted to her local hospital in late January 2021 after suffering three weeks of abdominal pain and diarrhoea, followed by a constant dry cough, fever, and night sweats.
However, when the doctors performed an MRI scan they got the shock of their life.
The scan revealed some unusual abnormality at the frontal part of her brain, and later it was discovered that there is an eight-centimetre (three-inch) roundworm known as Ophidascaris robertsi.
According to the doctors, this type of roundworm has never been found in human beings, making this the first-ever human case of Ophidascaris to be described in the world.
According to researchers, it is likely that the woman contracted the infection while gathering edible shrubs in proximity to her residence. These shrubs were presumably tainted with parasitic larvae, which had been expelled in snake feces, as reported by AFP.
The parasite, which appeared as a “stringlike structure” on brain scans, was then identified through DNA testing, AFP noted. The scientists also emphasised there is possibility of more such cases in the coming years as the roundworms were known to infect animals in other parts of the world.
The findings of this case were published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
