Doctors in Australia conducted a series of screenings, scans, and tests on a woman who had been hospitalized due to abdominal pain and diarrhea. To their surprise, they discovered a three-inch red worm living in her brain. After more than a year of investigation, the worm was successfully removed. This astonishing finding was recently described in Emerging Infectious Diseases, a monthly journal published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The woman, a 64-year-old resident of southeastern New South Wales, Australia, initially received a diagnosis of a rare lung infection with an unknown cause. Although her symptoms improved with treatment, she was later hospitalized again with a fever and cough. Doctors then treated her for a group of blood disorders known as hypereosinophilic syndrome, which required suppressing her immune system with medication.
Over a three-month period in 2022, the woman experienced forgetfulness and worsening depression. An MRI revealed a brain lesion, leading to a biopsy in June 2022. Inside the lesion, doctors discovered and removed a live parasitic worm that was approximately 3.15 inches long and 0.04 inches in diameter. The worm was identified as Ophidascaris robertsi, a type of roundworm native to Australia that reproduces in carpet pythons, named for their intricate markings. The pythons shed the worm’s eggs in their feces, which can then be ingested by small mammals, allowing the worms to grow inside them.
While roundworms infect hundreds of millions of people worldwide, this was the first reported case of the Ophidascaris worm species infecting a human. The woman may have accidentally consumed worm eggs by eating warrigal greens, similar to spinach, from around a lake near her residence or through contact with contaminated hands or kitchen surfaces.
Scott Gardner, a professor of biological sciences and the curator of the Manter Laboratory of Parasitology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, assured that there is no need to panic about Ophidascaris infections from snakes. He emphasized the importance of good hygiene to avoid parasite infections, as parasites often infect humans when they accidentally ingest eggs not intended for consumption.
Karina Kennedy, the director of microbiology at Canberra Hospital and an author of the article, explained that the woman’s initial symptoms were likely caused by the migration of roundworm larvae from the bowel to other organs. However, the doctors initially struggled to identify the microscopic larvae responsible for the infection. The woman’s psychiatric symptoms improved but persisted six months after the brain surgery. She was also treated with medication to eliminate any remaining worm larvae in her other organs and continues to be monitored by infectious disease and brain specialists.
Dr. Kennedy advised people to wash their hands after gardening and contact with foraged products, as well as thoroughly wash foods and cooking surfaces. The article highlighted the risk of diseases spreading from animals to humans, with outbreaks of such diseases becoming more frequent in recent decades. These zoonotic diseases account for approximately 60% of all known infectious diseases and 75% of new and emerging ones, according to the C.D.C.
Although the specific worm species is endemic to Australia, scientists believe that additional human cases may emerge globally, as the Ophidascaris species infects snakes in other parts of the world as well.
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