World-first case of python parasite removed from Aussie woman’s brain
![](https://www.ausdoc.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/carpet-python-iStock-478743710-1-300x225.jpg)
What was initially suspected as run-of-the-mill pneumonia became a world first after Australian doctors removed a live and “wriggling” 8cm-long parasitic worm from a 64-year-old woman’s brain.
The patient, from southeastern NSW, first presented to a local hospital in early 2021, but it was not until almost 18 months later that the nematode — identified as Ophidascaris robertsi — was discovered.