Video: Worm That Lived In Woman’s Eye for Six Years
TO St Thomas’s Hospital, London, where a woman complains of a thing in her eye. It’s a worm. It’s an Ocular Loiasis. It’s been living in her eye for six years. The 21-year-old had been in Nigeria six years prior to her hospital trip. And so had the worm.
On examination, a live worm, 2 cm in length, was seen in the “superior subconjunctival space of the left eye”.
The worm – a male Loa loa worm – was removed. This is the worm’s eye view, so to speak.
The rest of the report published in the New England Journal of Medicine goes:
Blood testing revealed microfilaremia and antifilarial antibodies. The patient received systemic therapy with corticosteroids and diethylcarbamazine. L. loa is a nematode whose larvae are introduced into humans (such as our patient) who have been bitten by infected chrysops flies in areas of western equatorial Africa. Over a period of 3 to 4 years, the larvae mature into adult worms, which can then live for up to 17 years in a human host, moving at speeds of up to 1 cm per minute as they roam through the patient’s subcutaneous tissues. Although localized inflammation (Calabar swellings) may occur, major tissue damage is rare.
Anish N. Shah, M.B., B.S.
Manuel Saldana, M.D.
St. Thomas’ Hospital, London, United Kingdom
Spotter: Karen
Posted: 14th, September 2010 | In: Key Posts, Strange But True Comments (2) | TrackBack | Permalink
