According to the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, the 64-year-old woman went to the hospital in January 2021 with complaints of abdominal pain and diarrhea that lasted for 3 weeks, as well as a dry cough, fever, and excessive sweating at night. When forgetfulness and depression were added to the woman’s complaints in 2022, she was referred to a hospital in Canberra.
It was decided to have surgery because abnormal brain activities were detected in the woman who had an MRI scan. During the surgery, doctors removed a live worm 8 centimeters long and 1 millimeter wide from the woman’s brain. It was determined that the worm named “Ophidascaris robertsi”, which was sent to the laboratory for examination, is a parasite usually seen in pythons.
THINK IT IS CONTAINED FROM THE python
In the study, it was noted that there were no previous reports of the parasite in question in humans. It was stated that there was a lake near the patient’s house and that the python species inhabited by the parasite was found around the lake.
It is thought that as a result of the woman touching the grass around the lake or using the plants she collected from the environment in her meals, the egg of the parasite, which the snake excreted, entered the woman’s body.
Doctors underlined that the case in question sheds light on the danger of disease transmission from animals to humans in the future. (AA)