World’s First: 8-Cm Parasite Surgically Removed from Woman’s Brain

The discovery set off a frantic quest to identify the mysterious intruder. Canberra Hospital infectious disease expert, Sanjaya Senanayake, reached out to an animal parasitology specialist, who rapidly identified the parasite as Ophidascaris robertsi, a roundworm typically associated with pythons. This marked the world’s first-ever encounter with a live worm inside a human brain, a truly astonishing medical revelation.

The patient’s proximity to a lake area inhabited by carpet pythons in southeastern New South Wales likely played a pivotal role in her unusual affliction. Although she hadn’t directly interacted with these reptiles, investigators theorize that she contracted the roundworm while foraging for Warrigal greens, a native leafy vegetable that she later cooked and consumed.

The scenario unfolds as follows: carpet pythons in Australia carry Ophidascaris robertsi and release parasite eggs in their feces, which then contaminate the surrounding vegetation. Small mammals and marsupials consume these contaminated plants, and eventually, the pythons themselves ingest these infected animals, completing the parasite’s life cycle.

In this instance, the patient unwittingly became a host for the worm, with the parasite exhibiting high invasiveness. Researchers suspect that the worm’s larvae or juveniles might have also been present in other organs within the woman’s body, including the lungs and liver.

This unique case highlights the escalating threat of diseases and infections transferring from animals to humans as humans encroach further into animal habitats. Sanjaya Senanayake stresses that in the past three decades, approximately 30 new infections have emerged globally, with roughly 75% being zoonotic, meaning they jump from the animal kingdom to the human realm. This includes notorious viruses like SARS, COVID-19, and Ebola.