5-Inch Worm That Lived Inside Chinese Man's Brain For 17 Years Removed After Surgery
As his parents always had difficulty moving their limbs, Chen ignored the symptoms and never went to a hospital, believing they were genetic problems
Doctors in China were in for a shock after they removed a 5-inch-long live worm living inside a man’s brain. He reportedly had the parasite living inside his head for 17 years.
The 23-year-old patient, named Chen, said he started suffering numbness in his hands and feet since the age of six. After losing sensation in the right half of his upper body, Chen decided to pay a visit to the hospital, reported Daily Mail.
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Doctors at the First Affiliated Hospital of Wuchang University, initially believed Chen suffered an infection due to the consumption of raw or poorly cooked exotic meats.
For a while, Chen’s doctors were confused about the cause of the problem. But when they performed a CT scan of Chen’s brain, they were shocked by the results. The scan revealed a long and twisted parasite inside Chen’s brain, following which he was diagnosed with sparganosis mansoni, a rare parasitic disease.
The surgeons successfully removed the tapeworm from the man’s brain on Tuesday after five years of wait as Chen’s condition was not suitable for the surgery.
As of now, Chen is slowly yet steadily recovering after doctors successfully removed the live worm which measured about 12 centimetres and inside his body for most of his life.
In the month of May, doctors at a hospital in China removed a six-inch live worm from a woman’s brain after she suffered from severe headaches.
The patient, identified as Xiao Yi, was transferred to a hospital in Nanjiang after deteriorating health condition. She experienced an epilepsy attack and was taken to a provincial hospital in Nanjing. Xiao eventually went under the knife after she tested positive for being infected by parasites.
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