- A woman in southern China had two live worms removed from her arm after a year-long painful lump
- The worms, sparganum parasites, measured 10cm and were linked to unhealthy lifestyle habits
- Wang often cooked frogs and used the same chopping board for raw and cold dishes without proper cleaning
A woman in southern China underwent surgery after doctors removed two living worms from her arm when she sought treatment for a painful lump that had continued to grow over the past year, reported the South China Morning Post.
The woman, surnamed Wang, said the lump first appeared on her arm a year ago and gradually became larger. Eventually, it grew to the size of a quail egg. She said the sharp pain caused by the swollen mass prompted her to seek medical treatment at Shenzhen People's Hospital in Guangdong province.
Doctors said the two 10cm-long worms removed from Wang's arm were sparganum, a type of parasite commonly found in the bodies of people with an unhealthy lifestyle.
Wang recalled that she often cooked frogs at home and killed them on the same chopping board that she used to prepare cold dishes.
According to doctors at the hospital, Wang's kitchen knife and chopping board might have been polluted by sparganum cysts. As she prepared cold dishes on the same board, the cysts were probably attached to the chopped food and, as a result, entered people's bodies.
An unidentified doctor from Shenzhen hospital's dermatological department said that unlike other parasites, sparganums would not mature into adults while in the human body. Instead, they just move around among various tissues.
The doctor further said that the parasites may go into the hypodermis, muscles, eyes, chest, brain and viscera, adding that the most common symptom is lumps under the skin.
The doctor also warned people not to let carelessness in the kitchen become a loophole for parasites.
Wang's habit of using the same chopping board for preparing both raw and cooked food is not rare in China because many people believe cleaning the board with detergent can remove the parasite eggs.
