Parasites | An eight centimeter nematode was found in the brain of an Australian woman

Australian brain surgeons in the administrative capital of Canberra have made a unique discovery. An eight-centimeter nematode, which is a typical parasite of python snakes, was found in the brain of a 64-year-old local woman. The news agency AFP and a British newspaper report on the matter The Guardian.

The patient came to the doctor’s office for the first time already in January 2021 due to headache, diarrhea, dry cough, fever and sweating. Last year, the patient started experiencing memory lapses and depression, so he was finally sent for a brain scan. It showed an extra figure like a piece of string. Doctor Hari Priya Bandi underwent surgery.

Soon the hospital’s infectious disease specialist Sanjaya Senanayake got a call from the operating doctor.

“Good God, you won’t believe what I found in this woman’s brain,” Priya Bandi said. “It’s alive and kicking.”

Finding was identified in the laboratory by DNA tests, confirming it as Ophidascaris robertsi, a parasite commonly found in snakes, especially pythons.

The patient is said to have collected plants near his home in an area inhabited by pythons. It is suspected that he was infected by the excrement of the snake. The worm has never before been found in humans and, according to Australian doctors, in mammals in general.

According to the hospital, the patient is recovering well and has regular check-ups.