This Worm, Never Before Seen in Humans, Was Removed From an Australian Woman’s Brain

Veuer

A parasitic roundworm, usually found in brains of unlucky python snakes was recently surgically removed from a human. And it’s the first time one of these has ever been found in a human. Veuer’s Tony Spitz has the details.

Transcript

00:00This is a parasitic roundworm, usually found in the brains of unlucky python snakes.

00:05However, Reuters reports, this wasn't discovered in the cranium of a slithering reptile,

00:10but rather surgically removed from a human.

00:13The patient was a 64-year-old woman who went to the doctor after experiencing symptoms

00:17including abdominal pain, fever, and coughing.

00:20The next year, she was referred to another hospital after exhibiting memory loss and

00:24depression.

00:25A scan then revealed a lesion in her brain that surgeons wanted to remove.

00:29But when they operated, they found something absolutely unexpected.

00:33That when you operate on someone's brain and you take a biopsy of something,

00:37you never expect to encounter something living.

00:40The 3.1-inch worm was removed and later identified.

00:43And it's the first time this kind of worm has ever been discovered in a human.

00:47They say she likely acquired it while foraging for native grasses near her home,

00:51likely ingesting worm larvae that was deposited by snake feces.

00:54They say that would account for the abdominal pain and fever she experienced before.

00:58As the creature was likely making its way from her digestive tract to her brain.

01:02And if that's making you feel ill, you're not alone.

01:05And for people hearing the story who are many degrees separated from this patient,

01:10they feel sort of very queasy and uncomfortable thinking about it.

01:14So you can imagine how it would have been for her.

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