A woman in Australia stumped doctors with mysterious symptoms over the course of more than a year. Physicians admitted the 64-year-old to the hospital in January 2021 after a bout with excessive diarrhea and stomach pains. As they performed tests on the woman, they realized she was experiencing several health conditions at the same time.
During an interview with Channel 7 News in Australia, as reported by NBC News, Dr. Hari Priya Bandi said she was made aware of the woman’s case after several other doctors failed to determine what was ailing her. Bandi could have never prepared herself for what she found in the operating room.
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The woman was sick for a long time.
During the woman’s hospital stay, she experienced respiratory problems, NBC News reported. Scans showed issues with both her lungs and liver. Her health continued failing, and she soon suffered from forgetfulness and depression. In June 2022, doctors performed an MRI and believed they had found the culprit: a tumor.
Doctors thought that a biopsy was necessary to understand what was happening.
Bandi said images of the woman’s brain showed an abnormality that was moving quickly, and she knew that she had to act fast. Doctors consulted textbooks and experts, but no one had dealt with anything like this before, Bandi told Channel 7 News.
They decided to perform a biopsy in June 2022 on the woman’s brain. At first, doctors didn't think it was anything remarkable.
Bandi soon realized what was happening.
She explained to Channel 7 News that she removed a bit of gray matter from the brain and suddenly noticed something moving. In her forceps was a wriggling red line. The operating room was stunned. Bandi had uncovered a worm in the woman’s brain. It was rapidly sent to pathology for further investigation.
This is the first time there has been a case quite like this.
Infectious disease expert Sanjaya Senanayake told NBC News this type of parasite has never been discovered in a human brain before. “It’s not meant to develop in her. It’s meant to develop in small mammals and marsupials. So she was an accidental host,” Senanayake said.
The parasite had made its way through the woman’s lungs, liver and finally arrived in her brain," he said.
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Doctors believe she accidentally ingested worm eggs, which allowed the parasite to live inside her body for a long time.
Bandi and Senanayake were contributing authors for an article in the journal of Emerging Infectious Diseases that describes the case, NBC News reported. Senanayake explained that the woman often collected and consumed vegetation from around her home near a lake. The doctors believe this is where she encountered the worm eggs and unintentionally ingested them.
Although this is the first case of this type of parasite found in a human’s brain, Senanayake predicted it won’t be the last mysterious case as parasites are moving from animals to humans because of shrinking habitat.
