'Worst nightmare' simulation shows how woman got a 3-inch worm in her brain after eating vegetables
Niamh Shackleton
Featured Image Credit: YouTube/Zack D. Films
If you're eating right now (vegetables in particular), then you might want to stop doing so before you read on.
A simulation has been created to visualize an experience a woman had last year that saw surgeons having to operate on her brain.
Dr Hari Priya Bandi was the person to carry out the extremely technical procedure on a 64-year-old woman in Australia and was left perplexed with what she found.
The ordeal actually began in 2021 when the woman was first hospitalized after suffering poor health and three weeks of stomach pain and diarrhoea, followed by a cough and fever.
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As the months went on, her symptoms developed into forgetfulness and depression, CNN reported, and she was hospitalized once more.
Ultimately the unwell woman had an MRI scan which revealed something usual in her brain, which convinced doctors to operate.
They were far from expecting that they found: a three-inch live worm living in the woman's brain.
Tests of the parasite confirmed that it was Ophidascaris robertsi, a roundworm that's usually found in pythons.
The simulation goes on to demonstrate how the worms usually live inside the reptile, which would poop out the eggs of the worm.
It's suspected that these eggs then ended up on some wild greens digested by the woman, and one of the eggs hatched in her gut.
It's thought to have then traveled to her brain via her bloodstream.
It was the first time a live worm had ever been discovered in a person's brain before.
"I’ve only come across worms using my not-so-good gardening skills," Dr Bandi said.
"I find them terrifying and this is not something I deal with at all."
Canberra Hospital infectious disease expert Sanjaya Senanayake added that the worm was identified 'immediately' by the animal parasitology expert it had been sent to.
"To our knowledge, this is also the first case to involve the brain of any mammalian species, human or otherwise," Senanayake went on.
The story alone is enough to make your skin crawl, but the recently made simulation is extra uncomfortable.
One person commented on the video: "A worm living inside my brain is literally my worst nightmare."
Another echoed: "Watching this with a headache is absolute nightmare fuel."
Others jested that the moral of the story is to not eat vegetables.
"Moral of the story: Eat cheeseburgers and not salads," someone joked.
A different person wrote: "New achievement: excuse to not eat green veges to mother."