Post by Graveyardbride on Feb 13, 2018 4:41:56 GMT -5
14 Worms Pulled from Woman’s Eye
An Oregon woman who had worms coming out of her eye is being called the first known human case of a parasitic infection spread by flies. Fourteen tiny worms were removed from the left eye of the 26-year-old female scientists said when the case was reported Monday in the American Journals of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
The woman, Abby Beckley, was diagnosed in August 2016 with Thelazia gulosa, a type eye worm found in dogs, cats and cattle in the northern United States and southern Canada, but never before in humans. They are spread by what are known as “face flies” that feed on the tears that lubricate the eyeball, scientists said.
After a week of eye irritation, Beckley pulled a worm from her eye. She visited doctors, but removed most of the additional worms herself during the following few weeks. The worms were translucent and each less than a half-inch long. After they were removed, no other worms were found and she experienced no further symptoms.
Richard Bradbury of the CDC and the study’s lead author, said there are two other Thelazia eye worm infections that have been seen in humans, but never this kind.
Source: Mike Stobbe, Associated Press, February 12, 2018.
