The appalling selfies of this woman helped to track the parasitic worm crawling into her face



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Worst vacation slideshow ever.
Photo: Kartashev and Simon (New England Journal of Medicine)

The selfies of a woman helped her to watch the movements of an unwanted guest: a wandering parasitic worm living on her face. Fortunately, the doctors managed to get out the pest – which she probably caught abroad from a mosquito – without any problem.

The troubling story of the woman was detailed in a case report published by her doctors this month in the New England Journal of Medicine. According to the report, the 32-year-old woman decided to visit an ophthalmologist (an ophthalmologist) two weeks after it started to itch, burning the bumps of skin that moved around her face. At first, the hump was under his left eye. Five days later, he moved over the left eye, 10 days later, he was on his upper lip. The woman used the selfies (available in their complete and horrifying detail here) to document her ordeal.

Upon examination, the woman's doctor found a "mobile oblong nodule" in the upper left eyelid and used forceps to remove the long surgical aspirator. Following DNA tests, they managed to identify the culprit, a parasitic round worm known as Dirofilaria repens.

D. repens are not from the United States, but do frequent parts of Europe and Asia. And it turned out that the woman had just returned from a trip to Russia, where she visited a rural area outside of Moscow. Remarkably, she also remembers being bitten by many mosquitoes, which help spread the victim's worm to the victim. D. repens We do not particularly like people as hosts, especially for dogs and other carnivores (one of his cousins ​​is the heartworm that also plagues the pooches). But sometimes people can become victims.

Unlike other parasitic worm species that may require pest control D. repens is often enough to heal. Most human infestations involve only one infertile worm, unable to do much but disturbing the host's immune system, which traps the worm in a "nodule" under the skin (in many cases). rare cases, the worm can cause organ damage).

The woman in this case has since made a full recovery. I mean, in addition to having the mortifying memory of a living noodle creeping inside you without paying rent for at least two weeks. Still, it could have been worse: some D. repens Worms are known to live up to 10 years.

[NewEnglandJournalofMedicine[NewEnglandJournalofMedicine[NewEnglandJournalofMedicine[NewEnglandJournalofMedicine]

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