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Worm in the eye of a young parasite patient resulted in permanent visual damage
A living worm was discovered by doctors in the eye of a boy. The worm had already damaged the eye of the young patient to such an extent that he still suffers from vision problems six months after the operation. It is still unknown how the parasite could reach the patient's eye. In medicine, however, is reported on a number of occasions again and again.
Increasing eye pain and diminishing eyesight
A 17-year-old teenager from a rural area in Mexico had been suffering from severe pain in his right eye for about three weeks when he went to the capital for treatment in a hospital. As reported by the Internet portal "Live Science", not only the eye pain had increased, but also decreased the eyesight severely. The doctors quickly found the cause of the complaints: in the eye of the adolescent, a parasitic worm had taken root.
Worm in the eye of a young man. (Image: Henrik Dolle / fotolia.com) Patient could only recognize a little
According to the medical experts, who also report on the case in the journal "New England Journal of Medicine", the boy could hardly see anything on arrival in the clinic with the right eye.
"He could not even see our fingers", which were held only about 30 inches away from his face, said lead author Dr. Pablo Guzman-Salas, who treated the patient.
According to the information, the teenager could only detect hand movements with his right eye - the vision of the left eye was not impaired.
Worm caused severe damage to the eye
Already at the first examinations, the doctors discovered that the parasite had caused severe damage to the boy's eye. The teenager's right cornea was swollen and speckled with blood, and there were several holes in his iris.
The intraocular pressure was also greatly increased.
All this because the worm was "in the eye", as Guzman-Salas told Live Science. According to him, the parasite was hard to see as it plunged into these holes.
When the surgeons surgically removed the worm, it was found that it had also caused considerable damage to the retina.
Parasite usually does not infect eyes
The worm, which according to the report had to be removed in several pieces, was about three millimeters long and one millimeter wide. It is a Saugwurm (Trematoda), but the doctors could not commit to a specific genus and species.
Guzman-Salas explained that he had never seen such a case before. "It is not common for trematodes to infect eyes, it is unusual for any type of worm to infect eyes," said the expert.
However, in "very, very rare" cases there are reports of other types of parasitic worms that infect the eyes.
Such a case caused a stir on the Internet last year. At that time, a video had been released showing a woman who was living with a living worm in her eye.
Permanent visual damage
According to health experts, many trematode infections occur when the parasites are ingested through food and then remain in a person's intestine.
In the case of the patient in Mexico, however, no clues to the parasite could be detected in the digestive tract. For the doctors remains unclear how the worm has gotten into the boy's eye.
In addition to the operation, the adolescent was also treated with medication. But even six months after removal of the worm, the teen's eyesight has not improved. (Ad)