The world's first case of a new parasitic infection in humans has been discovered by researchers at The Australian National University (ANU) and the Canberra Hospital after they detected a live eight-centimeter roundworm from a carpet python in the brain of a 64- year-old Australian woman.
was pulled from the patient after brain surgery—still alive and wriggling. It is suspected larvae, or juveniles, were also present in other organs in the woman's body, including the lungs and liver.case of Ophidascaris to be described in the world," leading ANU and Canberra Hospital infectious disease expert and co-author of the study Associate Professor Sanjaya Senanayake said.
Ophidascaris robertsi roundworms are common to carpet pythons. It typically lives in a python's esophagus and stomach, and sheds its eggs in the host's feces. Humans infected with Ophidascaris robertsi larvae would be considered accidental hosts. The patient used the Warrigal greens for cooking and was probably infected with the parasite directly from touching the native grass or after eating the greens.
"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." A neurosurgeon at Canberra Hospital explored the abnormality and it was then that the unexpected eight-centimeter roundworm was found. Its identity was later confirmed through parasitology experts, initially through its appearance and then through molecular studies.
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