- Man in rural India had blurry vision due to a parasitic worm in his eye
- The worm, identified as Gnathostoma spinigerum, common in cats and dogs
- Infection likely from eating raw or undercooked fish or poultry
A 35-year-old man in rural India complained of blurry vision and visited an ophthalmologist to get some relief, but what happened next shocked him. Ophthalmologists found a slow-moving parasitic worm in his eye. The case study was recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine, a medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society, as doctors detailed the diagnosis and treatment.
The parasitic roundworm seen in his eye is typically found in cats and dogs. It is identified as Gnathostoma spinigerum, which is a type of nematode that can cause eye problems and vision loss. The worm likely entered the man's body through consuming raw or undercooked meat and then might have travelled to his eye.
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The experts revealed that a physical examination of the man's eye showed signs of conjunctival injection. They wrote that a worm was seen "moving sluggishly" in the posterior segment on fundoscopy.
"Gnathostomiasis is acquired through ingestion of undercooked freshwater fish, poultry, snake, or frog in regions where the disease is endemic -- the first two of which this patient from rural central India had consumed," the doctors explained as quoted by MedPage Today.
"Gnathostomiasis is one of several parasites that can infect the eye and the retina," Abdhish Bhavsar, MD, a clinical spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology and a retina specialist at Retina Consultants of Minnesota, told MedPage Today.
"Some of these worms are larger, and some of them are smaller than others, and some of them are very small and can travel within the retina or subretinal space under the retina, and can cause significant damage to the eye and to the vision or even potentially cause blindness."
The doctors performed pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) to remove the worm. "Under light microscopy, a larval-stage nematode with a cephalic bulb, thick cuticle, and well-developed intestine was identified; these features were consistent with Gnathostoma spinigerum," the doctors wrote.
PPV is a surgical procedure which is used to treat various retinal and vitreous conditions. The treatment involves removing the vitreous gel, the clear, jelly-like substance that fills the middle of the eye. Doctors gain access to the retina and other structures in the back of the eye.
