女性の脳から生きた線虫摘出　通常はヘビに寄生　豪

【シドニーＡＦＰ＝時事】オーストラリア人女性の脳から、通常はヘビなどに寄生する線虫が生きた状態で摘出された。この線虫が哺乳類の脳で見つかるのは初めてだという。（写真は資料写真）
　女性の症例は２９日、学術誌「新興感染症」に掲載された。
　この女性（６４）は記憶障害を訴えていたため、医師らがＭＲＩ検査を行ったところ、「非定型的な病変」が発見された。脳の前部に写っていた「ひものような形」のものをＤＮＡ検査した結果、線虫「Ｏｐｈｉｄａｓｃａｒｉｓ ｒｏｂｅｒｔｓｉ」であることが分かった。長さは約８センチに上った。
　この線虫はカンガルーやカーペットニシキヘビによく見られる寄生虫だが、これまでヒトへの感染は報告されていない。
　医師らは「われわれが知る限り、人間を含め哺乳類の脳で見つかった初めてのケースでもあった」としている。
　研究者は、女性が自宅近くに自生する野草を食べ感染したとみている。野草にヘビのフンから排出された線虫の幼虫が付着していた可能性が高いという。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/08/29-16:45）

A parasitic roundworm typically found in snakes has been pulled alive and wriggling from a woman's brain in a stomach-churning medical first, Australian doctors said Tuesday.
Baffled doctors performed an MRI scan on the 64-year-old Australian woman after she began suffering memory lapses, noticing an atypical lesion at the front of her brain.
It was an eight-centimetre (three-inch) roundworm, called Ophidascaris robertsi, which researchers said was a common parasite in kangaroos and carpet pythons -- but not humans.
This is the first-ever human case of Ophidascaris to be described in the world, said infectious disease expert Sanjaya Senanayake.
To our knowledge, this is also the first case to involve the brain of any mammalian species, human or otherwise.
Researchers believe the woman was infected after foraging for edible shrubs near her house, which were likely contaminated with parasitic larvae shed in snake faeces.
The parasite, which appeared as a stringlike structure on brain scans, was then identified through DNA testing.
It is never easy or desirable to be the first patient in the world for anything, Senanayake said.
I can't state enough our admiration for this woman, who has shown patience and courage through this process.
Senanayake said Ophidascaris roundworms were known to infect animals in other parts of the world, and it was likely that other cases will be recognised in coming years.
The findings were published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.