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A live worm was removed from the brain of a 64-year-old woman complaining of forgetfulness and depression
Doctors in Australia have found a live worm living in a woman’s brain (Image credit: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
A live worm was removed from the brain of a 64-year-old woman complaining of forgetfulness and depression. In the world’s first case, doctors in Australia discovered an 8cm parasitic roundworm living in a woman’s brain, according to a report in The Guardian.
The Englishwoman, who lived in New South Wales, Australia, complained in 2021 of a range of symptoms – including abdominal pain, dry cough, diarrhea, and night sweats. The symptoms led to her hospitalization in January 2021.
However, in 2022, her symptoms progressed to depression and forgetfulness. She was referred to Canberra Hospital, where an MRI scan led to the discovery of the live worm in the right frontal lobe lesion of her brain.
The discovery surprised the doctors at Canberra Hospital and a team was immediately formed to find out what kind of worm it was and how to remove it.
“The neurosurgeon certainly didn’t go in there thinking he was going to find a writhing worm,” says infectious diseases physician Dr. Sanjaya Senanayake. “Neurosurgeons regularly deal with infections in the brain, but this was a one-off finding. No one expected to find that.”
Senanayake got involved when his fellow neurosurgeon called him and said, “Oh my God, you wouldn’t believe what I just found in this lady’s brain – and it’s alive and writhing.”
“Canberra is a small place, so we sent the worm, which was still alive, directly to the lab of a CSIRO scientist who has a lot of experience with parasites,” Senanayake said. “He just looked at it and said, ‘Oh my goodness, this is Ophidascaris robertsi’.”
Ophidascaris robertsi is a roundworm mainly found in pythons. Doctors aren’t sure how it got into the woman’s brain, though they believe she ate grass contaminated by the snake’s feces. The woman lives in an area where carpet pythons are common and often gathers native grasses to use in cooking.
This is the first case of such a parasite infecting a human. “Human infection with any Ophidascaris species has not been previously reported,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted.
Six months after surgery, the woman’s forgetfulness and depression improved, but the symptoms did not completely disappear.
The woman complained of forgetfulness and depression. Doctors found a live worm in her brain