An Australian woman who had symptoms ranging from forgetfulness to abdominal pain for more than two years had an 8cm parasitic worm living inside her brain.
The ophidascaris robertsi larvae specimen was extracted “alive and wriggling” by surgeons at Canberra Hospital, in what is believed to be a world first.
Dr Hari Priya Bandi told colleagues as she operated on the unnamed woman: “Oh my God, you wouldn’t believe what I just found in this lady’s brain.”
The patient, a 64-year-old from New South Wales, was first admitted to her local hospital in late January 2021 with abdominal pain and diarrhoea, and then a constant dry cough, fever and night sweats.
By last year her symptoms also included forgetfulness and depression, according to the Guardian.