How Australian Medical Professionals Discovered a 3-Inch Live Worm in a Woman's Brain

Australia's CANBERRA — An Australian neurosurgeon looking into a woman's mysterious symptoms claims to have removed a wiggling worm from the patient's brain.

At Canberra Hospital this year, surgeon Hari Priya Bandi was taking a biopsy via a hole in the 64-year-old patient's skull when she used forceps to remove the parasite, which was 8 centimetres (3 inches) long.

"I was just wondering, 'What is that? Nothing about it makes sense. However, it is animated and alive. In the publication of The Canberra Times on Tuesday, Bandi was cited.

It carried on vigorously moving. All of us on Bandi's surgical team "felt a little queasy," she continued.

Ophidascaris Roberts, an Australian native roundworm recognized as a human parasite, was responsible for the creature's larvae. The carpet python is a common host of the worms.

A paper describing the remarkable medical case written by Bandi and Canberra infectious diseases specialist Sanjaya Senanayake was recently published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Senanayake claimed that when the worm was discovered in June of last year, he was working at the hospital.

"I received a call informing me that there was a patient with an infection issue. Senanayake informed Australian Broadcasting Corp., "We just extracted a live worm from this patient's brain.

After three months of amnesia and deteriorating depression, the woman was brought to the hospital. Her brain had changed, according to scans.

She had experienced gastrointestinal pain, diarrhea, a dry cough, and night sweats when she was taken into the local hospital in southeast New South Wales a year ago.

According to Senanayake, a malignancy or an abscess should be seen in the brain biopsy results.

"This patient had been treated... for what was a mystery illness that we thought ultimately was an immunological condition because we hadn't been able to find a parasite before and then out of nowhere, this big lump appeared in the frontal part of her brain," Senanayake said.

"All of a sudden, Bandi is pulling up something that is writhing with her forceps. She was shocked, as was everyone else in the operating room, Senanayake continued.

The worms' eggs are frequently excreted in snake excretions that small mammals ingest. While other snakes consume the mammals, the life cycle continues.

The woman hunts for natural plants called warrigal greens to cook with because she lives close to a carpet python habitat.

Although she didn't come into contact with snakes directly, researchers believe she ate their eggs or touched contaminated hands.

According to the latest case report, the woman used Warrigal greens for cooking and was probably parasitized after touching native grass or eating the greens.

The woman's symptoms allegedly began in January 2021, according to doctors. She initially experienced a stomach ache and diarrhea, which were "followed by fever, cough, and shortness of breath".

The 64-year-old was initially brought to a nearby hospital in late January 2021 after experiencing stomach pain and diarrhea for three weeks, as well as a persistent dry cough, a fever, and night sweats.

They claimed that these symptoms were probably brought on by roundworm larvae migrating from the intestine and into other organs like the liver and lungs.

No parasites were found in the tissue samples from the lung biopsy or the respiratory samples.

As another study author from Canberra Hospital, Karina Kennedy remarked, "At that time, trying to identify the microscopic larvae, which had never previously been identified as causing human infection, was a bit like trying to find a needle in a haystack."

The woman's memory and mental processing started to shift gradually about 2022.

At this point, the patient was reportedly depressed and forgetful, leading to an MRI scan that revealed an unusual tissue lesion in the right frontal lobe of the brain.

The unexpected eight-centimeter roundworm was discovered at that time by a neurosurgeon at the Canberra Hospital, and it was later validated by parasitology specialists and molecular tests.

Researchers issued a warning, noting that the incident serves as a stark reminder of the risk of diseases and infections transferring from animals to humans in a world where habitats are progressively encroaching upon one another.

"In the past 30 years, there have been around 30 new infections worldwide. About 75% of newly developing illnesses worldwide are zoonotic, meaning that they have spread from animals to people. Coronaviruses are among them, according to Dr. Senanayake.

"People who garden or forage for food should wash their hands after gardening and touching foraged products," Dr. Kennedy advised.

"Any food that has been cooked or used in a salad should also be thoroughly cleaned, and cutting boards and kitchen surfaces should be wiped down and cleaned after use."