CANBERRA, Australia (AP) 鈥 A neurosurgeon investigating a woman鈥檚 mystery symptoms in an Australian hospital says she plucked a wriggling worm from the patient鈥檚 brain.
Surgeon Hari Priya Bandi was performing a biopsy through a hole in the 64-year-old patient鈥檚 skull at Canberra Hospital last year when she used forceps to pull out the parasite, which measured 8 centimeters, or 3 inches.
"I just thought: 鈥榃hat is that? It doesn鈥檛 make any sense. But it鈥檚 alive and moving,鈥欌 Bandi was quoted Tuesday in The Canberra Times newspaper.
鈥淚t continued to move with vigor. We all felt a bit sick,鈥 Bandi added of her operating team.
The creature was the larva of an Australian native roundworm not previously known to be a human parasite, named Ophidascaris robertsi. The worms are commonly found in carpet pythons.
Bandi and Canberra infectious diseases physician Sanjaya Senanayake are authors of an article about the extraordinary medical case published in the latest edition of the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Senanayake said he was on duty at the hospital in June last year when the worm was found.
鈥淚 got a call saying: 鈥榃e鈥檝e got a patient with an infection problem. We鈥檝e just removed a live worm from this patient鈥檚 brain,'鈥 Senanayake said.
The woman had been admitted to the hospital after experiencing forgetfulness and worsening depression over three months. Scans showed changes in her brain.
A year earlier, she had been admitted to her local hospital in southeast New South Wales state with symptoms including abdominal pain, diarrhea, a dry cough and night sweats.
Senanayake said the brain biopsy was expected to reveal a cancer or an abscess.
鈥淭his patient had been treated ... for what was a mystery illness that we thought ultimately was a immunological condition because we hadn鈥檛 been able to find a parasite before and then out of nowhere, this big lump appeared in the frontal part of her brain,鈥 Senanayake said.
鈥淪uddenly, with her (Bandi鈥檚) forceps, she鈥檚 picking up this thing that鈥檚 wriggling. She and everyone in that operating theater were absolutely stunned,鈥 Senanayake added.
Bandi said her patient regained conscious after the worm was extracted without any negative consequences.
鈥淪he was so grateful to have an answer for what had been causing her trouble for so very long,鈥 Bandi said.
Six months after the worm was removed, the patient鈥檚 neuropsychiatric symptoms had improved but persisted, the journal article said.
The patient had been sent home soon after the surgery with antiparasitic drugs and had not returned to hospital since, Senanayake said. 鈥淪he's done OK, but obviously because this is a new infection, we're keeping a close eye on her,鈥 Senanayake told Ten Network television.
The worms鈥 eggs are commonly shed in snake droppings which contaminate grass eaten by small mammals. The life cycle continues as other snakes eat the mammals.
The woman lives near a carpet python habitat and forages for native vegetation called warrigal greens to cook.
While she had no direct contact with snakes, scientists hypothesize that she consumed the eggs from the vegetation or her contaminated hands.
