Brain surgeon pulls out live worm - 9th October 2023

Something strange happened in a hospital in Canberra recently. During a medical operation, a surgeon got a huge surprise when she found a worm in her patient's head. She cried, "You wouldn't believe what I just found in this lady's brain – and it's alive and wriggling".

The brain surgeon, Dr Hari Priya Bandi, removed a live eight-centimetre long worm. It was the first time she and her colleagues had experienced anything like it.

The 64 year old Australian patient had felt ill before the operation. For about a year, she'd suffered from a cough, stomach problems and then she'd been depressed and forgetful. In 2022, she had a brain scan which showed something wasn't right and this resulted in an operation on her brain.

Laboratory tests on the worm showed it was an Ophidascaris robertsi, a worm which lives in certain types of python snakes. It's thought that the woman picked up the worm eggs while she was collecting food outdoors.

Scientists have never seen this before in humans. However, there are several similar cases of diseases which transfer from animals to humans and some can be dangerous, even deadly. It's been reported by the Australian National University that such diseases are becoming more common. 30 new diseases have been discovered in the last 30 years, many of which were similar to the brain worm.

According to specialist Dr Sanjaya Senanayake, after Covid-19, this brain worm's 'a warning' of what could happen next. For him, it's essential that experts and governments watch out for possible new diseases.