this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2023
229 points (94.6% liked)

World News

32518 readers
460 users here now

News from around the world!

Rules:

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Woman complained of forgetfulness and depression before doctors pulled out an 8cm roundworm normally found in pythons

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] just_another_person@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Probably something like this. There is an entire class of drug rarely needed that does exactly this thing, but won't kill a fully formed spawn of an egg that wandered into the bloodstream. Antiparasitic drugs are rough, but save thousands of lives per years where this type of parasite is an issue. This case is exactly why doctors may ask if you've traveled recently, and to where.

[–] Cypher@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

You’re probably speaking about roundworms more generally but this particular parasite has never been observed in humans before.