SUFFERING from a dry cough, fever, night sweats and abdominal pain? It could be a parasitic roundworm nestled in your brain.
At least it was for one 64-year-old Australian woman who recently had an Ophidascaris robertsi roundworm extracted after brain surgery.
The patient was first admitted to hospital in Jan 2021 after suffering three weeks of abdominal pain and diarrhoea.
In 2022 and now experiencing forgetfulness and depression, she was sent in for an MRI scan where a neurosurgeon at Canberra Hospital found an abnormality in the right frontal lobe of her brain.
It was then that the doctors discovered the still live and wriggling eight-centimetre roundworm nestled in her brain.
Dr Hari Priya Bandi pulled the worm from the patient after surgery, a feat which colleague Dr Sanjaya Senanayake called a "once-in-a-career finding".
Sanjaya told The Guardian in an interview, "Canberra is a small place, so we sent the worm, which was still alive, straight to the laboratory of a CSIRO scientist who is very experienced with parasites.
"He just looked at it and said, 'Oh my goodness, this is Ophidascaris robertsi'."
It's believed the patient caught the roundworm after collecting Warrigal greens, a native grass, beside a lake near her home where a python had shed the parasite via its faeces.
Greens aren't always great.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 30 Aug 23
To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 30 Aug 23
