vellavu
Scooby
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2015
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Where No Flatworm Has Gone Before: Doctors Find Wriggling Parasite in Teen's Eyeball
When a 17-year-old guy in Mexico presented at the hospital with complaints about serious eye pain, the doctors were in for a squirmy surprise when they examined him.
Shining a light into the eyeball, they saw inflammation, blood, and several holes in the iris. And a worm - darting in and out of those holes, travelling around the front of the eyeball at its leisure.
The teenager, who lived in a rural town, had been suffering from decreased vision in his right eye for about three weeks. By the time he got to the doctor's, he could barely see through that eye, only able to detect movement when someone waved a hand in front of him.
Doctors identified the eye invader as a type of trematode - a class of parasitic flatworms commonly referred to as 'flukes' and easily identified by the suckers they use to burrow holes in the host's body.
When a 17-year-old guy in Mexico presented at the hospital with complaints about serious eye pain, the doctors were in for a squirmy surprise when they examined him.
Shining a light into the eyeball, they saw inflammation, blood, and several holes in the iris. And a worm - darting in and out of those holes, travelling around the front of the eyeball at its leisure.
The teenager, who lived in a rural town, had been suffering from decreased vision in his right eye for about three weeks. By the time he got to the doctor's, he could barely see through that eye, only able to detect movement when someone waved a hand in front of him.
Doctors identified the eye invader as a type of trematode - a class of parasitic flatworms commonly referred to as 'flukes' and easily identified by the suckers they use to burrow holes in the host's body.
