Australian scientists announced that, in a world-first occurrence, they found a live worm measuring 8 cm in the brain of an Australian woman.

This "thread-like structure" was extracted from the damaged tissue in the frontal lobe of the patient, who was born in England, during a surgery performed in Canberra last year.

The red parasitic worm may have been present in the woman's brain for up to two months.

Researchers warn that this case highlights an increasing risk of the potential transmission of diseases and infections from animals to humans.

Dr. Sanjaya Sinanayake, an infectious diseases physician at Canberra Hospital, said: "Everyone in the operating room was shocked when [the surgeon] used tweezers to pick up something strange that turned out to be a live, bright red worm measuring 8 cm wriggling."
He added: "If we set aside feelings of disgust, we would see that this is a new infection that has not been documented before in humans."

This roundworm is a common type of non-venomous carpet snake known in most parts of Australia.

How did the woman get the worm?
Scientists say the woman likely became infected with the roundworm after gathering a type of local grass known as "green woorigal" beside a lake near where she lives.

The Australian parasitologist, Mirehab Hussein, wrote in the journal of emerging infectious diseases that she suspects the woman's body became an "accidental host" for the worm after she used the forage plants—contaminated with snake feces and parasite eggs—in cooking.

The woman experienced what doctors described as "an unusual set of symptoms," including stomach pain, coughing, night sweats, and diarrhea, which escalated to increased forgetfulness and depression.

The patient was admitted to the hospital in late January 2021. Subsequent examinations revealed "an unusual lesion inside her right frontal lobe."

The cause of her condition was not known until the surgeon intervened with a scalpel during a biopsy in June 2022.

The patient has begun to recover well despite her condition entering medical history.