Couple eaten alive by tiny worms
Yahoo!7 July 5, 2011, 10:40 am
A Victorian couple discovered they were being eaten alive by tiny worms with teeth after weeks of chronic sickness.
The couple became ill after cooking fish they had caught while on a camping holiday in Western Australia, and ingesting the gnathostomiasis larvae.
It is the first time humans have been infected by the parasite in Australia, The Australian Medical Journal reports.
Patients with the same condition contract the illness overseas, including south east Asia and Japan.
(Credit: bradshawfoundation.com) A couple fell ill after being infected by gnathostomiasis (inset)
The worms are 1-3mm long, have got sharp teeth and can work their way around the body until it dies or is killed by the human immune system.
"They move under the skin and cause itchy lumps that can make you feel sick - and it can be very hard to diagnose," Alfred Hospital's Dr Andrew Fuller told the Herald Sun.
"They eat your tissues."
The couple suffered vomiting, swellings on the skin, abdominal cramps, fevers, muscle pains and lethargy.
The 52-year-old man told doctors he could even feel movement under his skin.
The symptoms began about 10 days after the couple ate the fish, believed to be black bream.
A course of antibiotics killed the parasite and the couple have recovered.
The worms can live in the human body for up to 15 years, and can travel to the brain, vital organs and spinal chord.
作者: Viola 时间: 5-7-2011 12:10
。。。起鸡皮疙瘩作者: Espresso 时间: 5-7-2011 18:36
生吃鱼了？作者: 2k4k 时间: 5-7-2011 22:45
It is the first time humans have been infected by the parasite in Australia？作者: hotasian 时间: 6-7-2011 09:11
不明白为啥吃抗生素可以杀死２毫米的虫子，抗生素难道不是用来杀细菌的吗．这种虫子应该没法在人体环境中繁殖，而只能在冷血动物体内比如鱼体内繁殖，所以１０天以后生命结束后就自然死亡了．至于抗生素，估计就是个安慰作用作者: 启程搬运 时间: 6-7-2011 11:43
够恶心。。作者: cello 时间: 6-7-2011 11:46
