A case of ocular parasitosis (infection by a parasite in the eye) affected an American from Oregon in the United States. Abby Beckley, 26, is an exceptional case ofhuman worm infection helazia gulosa – a type of parasitewhich was previously only found in cattle, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The young woman was embarrassed in her left eye without knowing why. She lived with this foreign body sensation and itching in her eye for a week before seeing a doctor. To make matters worse, the patient had a 1.27 cm long worm removed from her eyeball. The story, reported on the American media, does not stop there: in two weeks will be extracted from his left eye 14 translucent worms. This experiment was done using tweezers and eye cleaner. An experience that shocked the American: “I prayed that the worms would come out of my eye, so that they could believe me. (…) I will never forget that when the doctor and the intern l ‘saw wriggling in my eye. They jumped back, completely panicked, “she says, taken up by France evening.
A rare case of parasitosis in humans
This parasitosis is in principle observed in cattle. The helazia gulosa worm is spread by flies, which carry the larvae in their mouth parts and release them in the fleshy part of the eye while feeding, says The Independent. The worms then remain on the host’s eyeball. Eye worms usually cause irritation but no lasting damage. They can potentially cause corneal scarring or even blindness if the infection is not treated according to the CDC.
How could Abby Beckley have been affected? Researchers favor the hypothesis of infection during a horseback ride in rural southern Oregon.
The cases of parasitosis linked to this type of parasite remain very rare in the world. 160 cases have been reported in humans in Europe and Asia. 11 cases have been identified in the United States.
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