Worm Horror: Woman’s MYSTERY Symptoms Solved

SUMMARY:

How a 3-Inch Worm Crawled into a Woman’s Brain

A 64-year-old Australian woman had a live 8-centimeter (3-inch) long parasitic roundworm removed from her brain in what is being called a world first.

The worm was identified as Ophidascaris robertsi, a roundworm usually found in pythons.

The woman had been suffering from symptoms including stomach pain, cough, forgetfulness, and depression before the worm was discovered.

It is believed that she may have caught the roundworm after foraging for Warrigal greens, a native leafy vegetable, which she cooked and ate.

The doctors and scientists involved in her case theorized that a carpet python might have spread the parasite via its feces into the greens, which the patient then touched and cross-contaminated with food or other cooking utensils.

Additional Sources:
(1) ‘Still alive and wriggling:’ Doctors remove 3-inch parasitic worm from woman’s brain in world first.

(2) Australia: Doctors remove 3-inch parasitic worm from woman’s brain

(3) 3-inch worm pulled from Australian woman’s brain, first-ever found, researchers say

(4) ‘Alive and wriggling’ worm survived in woman’s body and brain for at least a year.

(5) Worm pulled from woman’s brain in Australia, study says – USA TODAY