Live parasitic worm found in Australian woman’s brain in world first

The worm, usually found in carpet pythons, was discovered after the 64-year-old complained of symptoms including forgetfulness. A live parasitic worm has been found inside the brain of a 64-year-old Australian woman, marking the first case of the infection in humans. “This is the first-ever human case of Ophidascaris to be described in the world,” Sanjaya Senanayake, an expert on infectious diseases at the ANU and Canberra Hospital said in a statement. “Normally the larvae from the roundworm are found in small mammals and marsupials, which are eaten by the python, allowing the life cycle to complete itself in the snake.” The researchers, who published their findings in the Emerging Infectious Diseases journal, said the woman probably picked up the infection from Warrigal greens, a type of native grass, she collected near her home and then cooked. “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.” By 2022, the woman was experiencing forgetfulness and depression, prompting an MRI scan, which showed a lesion in her brain.