Medical specialists in Chuvashia removed a live worm from the eye of a patient, which had lived in the organ for about a year and reached a length of 20 cm. This unusual operation was reported by the regional Ministry of Health.
“For the second time, ophthalmologists encountered a rare and dangerous disease – filariasis, when a roundworm settled under the skin of the eyelid in the patient’s eyeball and developed for about a year, reaching a length of almost 20 cm,” the publication says.
The worm was discovered in a 52-year-old man from the Ulyanovsk region. The man felt discomfort due to a painful formation under the upper eyelid. The Ministry explained that as soon as the doctor violated the integrity of the capsule, a flagellum suddenly appeared from the wound, which confirmed the presence of the parasite in the patient’s eye. Upon extraction, doctors saw a live, writhing worm.
The infection was caused by a mosquito bite last year, after which the patient developed a small spot. He was prescribed anti-inflammatory, antiseptic and anti-parasitic treatment. Ophthalmologists noted that such cases are becoming more frequently recorded in Chuvashia and other regions in central Russia due to global climate change and global warming, which leads to the expansion of the habitat of mosquitoes, which are the main vector of heartworms, the report says. material.
On the same day, another case became known. A Dagestan woman has fallen victim to a strange parasite carried by a mosquito. This tropical worm spent six months in the woman’s body, migrating throughout her body, before it was found and removed from her eye.