I didn't even need to know this was a possibility. Neither did you, frankly. But now we both know.
[An Australian] woman faced respiratory symptoms and medical scans revealed abnormalities within her lungs and liver. But her condition only worsened, including forgetfulness and depression.
An MRI scan revealed what doctors initially thought was a tumor, but when the woman underwent a biopsy in June 2022, the doctors were stunned.
Yes, "stunned" is an understatement, I'm sure. You, a brain surgeon, open up a lady's head expecting to find a tumor, and instead you find this:
I'm sure everyone in the operating room had the same reaction:
Apparently this big old worm, known scientifically as Ophidascaris robertsi, is normally found in pythons and small mammals. It's not really made for humans, much less for human brains.
While the patient had never come in contact with pythons (you'd remember that, I'm sure), she had "often collected native vegetation from around the lake where she lived to use in cooking." Presumably some of the parasite eggs were on that "native vegetation" and found their way into her body.
At least it wasn't a tumor; as creepy and gross as it is to pluck a worm from your brain, it's better than cancer.
The unsettling episode, meanwhile, does lend itself to some entertaining journalism:
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misstated how doctors think the patient ingested the parasite. It was by unknowingly consuming worm eggs, not python eggs.
Yeah I think you'd remember eating python eggs too!
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