Live worm found inside woman’s brain who complained of depression and forgetfulness, shocks doctors

Neurosurgeons at the Canberra hospital were shocked to find an 8cm-long worm living inside a woman’s brain.

The patient was a 64-year-old woman from south-eastern New South Wales. She had been admitted to her local hospital late in January 2021, following complaints of diarrhea and abdominal pain that lasted for three weeks. She also had an incessant dry cough along with fever and night sweats.

Back in 2022, the patient’s symptoms deteriorated to depression and forgetfulness resulting in an admittance to the Canberra hospital. It was there that an MRI scan of the woman’s brain showed abnormalities that required to be operated on.

However, none of the doctors in charge of the case expected to find a wriggling worm inside the brain of the woman. This also happens to be the first instance of this species of parasitic roundworm to be found inside a human being.

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Parasitic worm species found inside a human being for the first time

Parasitic species of roundworm found living inside human being for the first time. (Image by iStockphoto via Pexels)

Dr. Hari Priya Bandi, a neurosurgeon at the Canberra hospital found the live parasitic roundworm in the brain of a 64-year-old woman from Australia. This shocked her so much that she promptly called on one of her colleagues, Dr. Sanjaya Senanayake, a physician for infectious diseases at the hospital.

Since this stood to be a once-in-a-career discovery for the doctors, they sent the worm to a CSIRO scientist, who identified the parasite as “Ophidascaris robertsi,” a roundworm species predominantly found in pythons.

The patient at the Canberra Hospital stands to be the world’s first case of this roundworm being found in humans. The case has been published in the Emerging Infectious Diseases journal in its September edition.

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How did the python parasite end up in the patient?

It has been reported that the patient lived close to a lake area that was populated by carpet pythons. Even when there had been no direct contact of the patient with the snakes, she frequently picked native grasses, which included warrigal greens, for cooking from around the lake, as informed by Dr. Senanayake.

It was the hypothesis of the scientists and doctors involved in the case that the parasite was in all probability shed by a snake via its fecal matter into the grass near the lake and that the patient got infected when the parasite got transferred directly from the grass since she often cooked and ate it.

Senanayake added that the patient required to be treated for other larvae as well, which might have invaded other body parts. Since no patient had ever been treated for this particular parasite before, special care was taken.

Certain medications could cause inflammation as the larvae perished, affecting the brain. So, the doctors had to administer other medications to counteract any severe side effects.

According to the doctors, the patient had cooperated admirably and was now recovering well from the surgery. She is still being kept under constant monitoring.

Researchers are studying whether any pre-existing medical condition had immunocompromised her that could have helped the larva take control.

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As per the reports of the UC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), almost three-quarters of emerging or new infectious diseases in people are transmitted by animals.

Senanayake stated that this case highlights the danger of the occurrence of such diseases and infections that are passed from animals to humans.

This is emerging more and more as people and animals are starting to live more closely in recent times. This causes an overlap in the habitats of animals and human beings causing unwanted transmissions of infections at times.