Live worm found in brain

[askandanswer]

Next time you feel inclined to consume snake faeces, remember to check for any hidden extras

 It was a fairly regular day on the ward for Canberra hospital infectious diseases physician Dr Sanjaya Senanayake, until a neurosurgeon colleague called him and said: “you wouldn’t believe what I just found in this lady’s brain – and it’s alive and wriggling.”

The neurosurgeon, Dr Hari Priya Bandi, had pulled an 8cm-long parasitic roundworm from her patient, prompting her to call on Senanayake and other hospital colleagues for advice about what to do next.

........................................

The doctors and scientists involved in her case hypothesise that a python may have shed the parasite via its faeces into the grass. They believe the patient was probably infected with the parasite from touching the native grass and transferring the eggs to food or kitchen utensils, or after eating the greens

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/aug/28/live-worm-living-womans-brain-australia-depression-forgetfulness

[zil2]

Snake, schmake - Klaw puked up a roundworm yesterday (only about 5cm long).  Went to the vet today to start a different, more effective dewormer than what he got up through 16 weeks old.  I've learned a lot about roundworms in the past 24 hours.   (Why was the woman playing in grass where a python frequented?  Not that it matters - the local dogs, cats, rodents, etc. could have left roundworm eggs there....)

[Carborendum]

13 hours ago, askandanswer said:

Next time you feel inclined to consume snake faeces

When was the first time?  Is this one of those FREAKING AUSSIE things?  

[Traveler]

It is not uncommon for pick up various parasites from animals – including pets.  Pets are great carrier of parasites, especially parasitic worms.  The greater the physical contact the greater the possibility of a pets passing on parasites.  As with the op example, the “eggs” of parasites are most likely the means of passing on parasites – especially worms.  Besides eggs being passed in the pet’s feces the pet’s saliva is also a common method of transfer.   Sleeping with pets and allowing pets to lick, especially faces is not a good idea.  Pets licking the faces of children may seem cute – until there is a parasitic infection especially an infection that threatens life or leaves permanent scars.

 

The Traveler

[Traveler]

1 hour ago, Carborendum said:

When was the first time?  Is this one of those FREAKING AUSSIE things?  

It is not completely uncommon in certain various Aisa regions (something you ought to be aware of) to drink the urine of snakes as an aphrodisiac.  

 

The Traveler

[LDSGator]

32 minutes ago, Traveler said:

It is not completely uncommon in certain various Aisa regions (something you ought to be aware of) to drink the urine of snakes as an aphrodisiac.  

 

The Traveler

Once again I’m thankful I was born in the good old US of A. 

[Carborendum]

28 minutes ago, Traveler said:

It is not completely uncommon in certain various Aisa regions (something you ought to be aware of) to drink the urine of snakes as an aphrodisiac.  

Traveler,

I understand when you don't get a joke.  But I'm fairly certain you know the difference between urine and feces.

And snakes don't exactly "urinate".  At least, it is not like human urine.  It's fairly dry and in quantities as small as oil secretions.  Gee, I'm cross-threading with the Dune thread.

Point being: No, there are no societies (Asian or otherwise) who "drink" snake urine.  It's impossible.  Where exactly did you hear that?

[Traveler]

5 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

Traveler,

I understand when you don't get a joke.  But I'm fairly certain you know the difference between urine and feces.

And snakes don't exactly "urinate".  At least, it is not like human urine.  It's fairly dry and in quantities as small as oil secretions.  Gee, I'm cross-threading with the Dune thread.

Point being: No, there are no societies (Asian or otherwise) who "drink" snake urine.  It's impossible.  Where exactly did you hear that?

An offering while visiting Tiawan.   As I understand it is acquired via a type of milking process.  Perhaps it is not urine but that is what my translator called it.

 

The Traveler

[Carborendum]

4 minutes ago, Traveler said:

Perhaps it is not urine but that is what my translator called it.

Then he was in error.  As I understand it (and I'm not an expert on Taiwan) they drink concoctions made from snake blood and/or various bodily fluids (like stomach acids, bile, etc.)

Sometimes such concoctions can be prepared in a manner to make it yellowish, mimicking the color of urine.  But it simply isn't urine.  The translator probably thought it was urine because of popular folklore.  But it isn't urine.  It can't be.

[zil2]

56 minutes ago, Traveler said:

Sleeping with pets and allowing pets to lick, especially faces is not a good idea.  Pets licking the faces of children may seem cute – until there is a parasitic infection especially an infection that threatens life or leaves permanent scars.

Meanwhile, I've spent my whole life living with pets, petting them and not washing my hands before eating (as a child), letting them lick me, cleaning out litter boxes, etc. etc. and have never once had any parasitic infection (at least, not that had any symptoms).  Of course, to my knowledge, none of my pets ever had worms (that needed treatments) - I might not have known, though, when I was a little child.

IMO, while there's a risk, if you keep your pets healthy, and them, you, and your house clean, you don't have much to worry about (assuming you have a good immune system).  And yes, now that I know Klaw has them, we're doing a deep clean and taking extra precautions until he's rid of them.  I'm still not worried.

13 minutes ago, Traveler said:

milking

This is generally how they describe extracting the venom.  ( @Carborendum's explanation makes much more sense, though.)

[NeuroTypical]

What @zil2 said.  The WHO and CDC and whatnot put out the occasional bulletin about how dangerous it is to live in proximity to chickens and pets, and watch out for parasites and licking, and all that.   What people miss, is the WHO and CDC are big on advising the human race in general, and an awful lot of humans live in 3rd world countries with bad sanitation and unclean water and little/no health care.   Yeah, if all the humans don't let their dogs lick their faces, a tiny fraction of humans won't get sick and die.  And that's a good thing.  

But exactly how many Americans get a life-threatening permanently scarring parasitic infection from doggie kisses?  Is it more than get hit by lightning?  More than people who drown in swimming pools or crush themselves by pulling a bookcase over on themselves?  I'm thinking not. 

You're better off advising people to not leave the house, because they're at a higher risk of being in an automobile accident or contracting skin cancer from the sun.

[askandanswer]

3 hours ago, LDSGator said:

Once again I’m thankful I was born in the good old US of A. 

Me too : )

[askandanswer]

3 hours ago, zil2 said:

Meanwhile, I've spent my whole life living with pets, petting them and not washing my hands before eating (as a child), letting them lick me, cleaning out litter boxes, etc. etc. and have never once had any parasitic infection (at least, not that had any symptoms)

So we can rule out parasitic infection as a possible explanation?  

[zil2]

32 minutes ago, askandanswer said:

So we can rule out parasitic infection as a possible explanation?  

Yes. I expect DNA is to blame.

[askandanswer]

20 hours ago, askandanswer said:

Next time you feel inclined to consume snake faeces, remember to check for any hidden extras

 

 

6 hours ago, Carborendum said:

When was the first time?  Is this one of those FREAKING AUSSIE things?  

Next time you

Change of emphasis. This was just a friendly reminder to all my 3H friends to be a bit more careful in their dietary habits. I've heard that there are some people here who mistake kimchi for food so if that's the case, well, you know.......

Edited August 30, 2023 by askandanswer

[Traveler]

There are none so blind as those that refuse to see.  How many times have I heard the argument - "I have spent my whole life doing ________ and have never had a single problem."

I have spent my whole life believing I will never die.  So far it has worked perfectly without a single flaw or exception.     😁  Obviously I am not everybody else.

While on my mission that included Washington state I met a family with a wonderful daughter however, her face was seriously and permanently scarred from ring worm contracted as an infant from a pet cat that was allowed licked her face.  How well do you think those parents would respond now to arguments of this thread?  Granted it does not happen often - it never happens in households where pets are not allowed to roam freely.

I used to joke about infants that can crawl that parents complained would not eat their prepared food.  In humor I suggested that the food be dropped on the floor, stepped on with their shoes – then put the child on the floor to play.  The food would be gone before they even noticed.  Honestly, I think some are more concerns for their pets than for their children.  Do pictures and comments display a priority?

 

The Traveler

[zil2]

22 minutes ago, Traveler said:

There are none so blind as those that refuse to see.  How many times have I heard the argument - "I have spent my whole life doing ________ and have never had a single problem."

I'm not in denial of reality and risks, but I'm not going to make the possibility into a probability, let alone a certainty.

23 minutes ago, Traveler said:

While on my mission that included Washington state I met a family with a wonderful daughter however, her face was seriously and permanently scarred from ring worm contracted as an infant from a pet cat that was allowed licked her face. 

Good thing I'm not an infant.

25 minutes ago, Traveler said:

Honestly, I think some are more concerns for their pets than for their children.

Perhaps so, but I have no children, just one little pet that brought along some wormy friends (these were in him, as eggs / larva, when I got him - the timing allows no other explanation).  We're dealing with them properly, not panicking.  By all means, people with children should take that into account, along with all the other variables.  I just don't believe in sterilizing the universe because someone somewhere might get infected with something.  If petting your cat came with a high probability of infection, people would have stopped doing it a long time ago - and I would be infected many times by now.  Risk != certainty.  I'm mitigating the risk, not acting as if it's certain unless I put Klaw in a cage and never touch him.

Meanwhile, you're welcome to avoid my house and my kitty like the plague.   We promise not to be offended by our "leper" status.

[NeuroTypical]

5 hours ago, Traveler said:

There are none so blind as those that refuse to see.

You go on to say that because you once saw a scarred person, the entire human race would be wise to alter their behavior because of this thing that you admit almost never happens.

And you totally refused to answer my questions or interact with the point I was making by asking them.

*shrug*   I'm grateful for individual agency.

[JohnsonJones]

If it's the same story I read about, the woman who got the parasite was eating a salad made of some sort of greens that she gathered up.  These were wild greens that were near her house. 

The doctors thought that an infected snake or something had been among those greens and shed some stuff among them which caused them to carry the worms.  When she ingested them it caused the worms to infect her.  They suspect it was not just the brain and could have other worms throughout her body.  After the discovery and removal of the one in her brain I think the article also stated they started her on a therapy which would also kill or remove any other worms that she may have.

[askandanswer]

On 9/2/2023 at 2:50 AM, JohnsonJones said:

If it's the same story I read about, the woman who got the parasite was eating a salad made of some sort of greens that she gathered up.  These were wild greens that were near her house. 

The doctors thought that an infected snake or something had been among those greens and shed some stuff among them which caused them to carry the worms.  When she ingested them it caused the worms to infect her.  They suspect it was not just the brain and could have other worms throughout her body.  After the discovery and removal of the one in her brain I think the article also stated they started her on a therapy which would also kill or remove any other worms that she may have.

Yes, that sounds like the same story.

I'm thinking that it was not actually a worm, more likely a babel fish that got lost.

[Carborendum]

On 8/30/2023 at 6:29 PM, askandanswer said:

Change of emphasis. This was just a friendly reminder to all my 3H friends to be a bit more careful in their dietary habits. I've heard that there are some people here who mistake kimchi for food so if that's the case, well, you know.......

Yeah, you said it.  I just spent the last week in a country that completely destroyed the flavor of kim chee in an effort to "make it their own."  I choked down a serving at one meal.  I couldn't finish the serving at the second meal.  I couldn't eat any more of it throughout the entire week.

But that's what you'd expect from a backwards society who drives on the wrong side of the road.

Edited September 9, 2023 by Carborendum

[askandanswer]

Well I must confess, my opinions on kimchi are pretty worthless - I've never actually tried it Every now and then I see a place that sells it but apart from a mild curiosity, I've never felt a strong desire to try it. Maybe one of these days I should, although where I'm living now, I'm not sure where I could find any

[Carborendum]

5 hours ago, askandanswer said:

Well I must confess, my opinions on kimchi are pretty worthless - I've never actually tried it Every now and then I see a place that sells it but apart from a mild curiosity, I've never felt a strong desire to try it. Maybe one of these days I should, although where I'm living now, I'm not sure where I could find any

If we're being candid, I fully recognize that most people find the odor so repulsive that they can't even try it.  But some people brave enough to try it find that it tastes good.  But it is difficult to get past the smell to actually experience the flavor.

Most people, however, simply don't like it.

I once brought a Tupperware full of rice, stir-fry, and kim chee to work.  A woman came slowly sniffing down the aisle between cubes until she came to my cube and had this disgusted look on her face and asked, "What on earth is that smell?!?!"

Yes, I'm well aware what others think.  I'm ok with that.  More for me.