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A woman’s case of pulling cattle worms out of her eye is being treated as a medical mystery.
COUNCIL CHRONICLE – Abby Beckley, a 28-years-old from Grants Pass, Oregon, lived the shock of her life when, one day, she pulled a translucent worm out of her eye. Looking at what she first thought was an eyelash, she quickly realized that it was moving.
The worst part was that she pulled worms out of her eye 14 times over a three weeks span, back in 2016. Her story is so unusual that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently published a report about it. It is also being treated as a medical mystery.
According to Richard Bradbury, the lead author, this was the 11th time someone was infected with eye worms in the United States. However, what was even more interesting in this case is the fact that the worm in the woman’s eye doesn’t usually infect humans.
It’s a cattle worm and somehow, Beckley ended up with it inside her eye. This could be explainable, as the woman grew up surrounded by cattle and horses. In 2016, driven by her desire to travel, she landed a job on a commercial salmon fishing boat in Alaska. Two weeks later, she reportedly started feeling a strange sensation in her eye.
The Medical Mystery Unraveled?
When Beckley was that her left eye became red and her eyelid droopy, she knew that something was not right. Initially, the woman thought it was all because of an eyelash, but when she looked in a mirror, she had the shock of her life.
She ended up pulling 14 worms out of her eye. Even the doctors were amazed. Beckley was also afraid that the worms might affect her brain or eyesight in some way.
It’s worth noting that parasitic eye worms are widespread in animals. Female “face flies” usually feed on the secretions of the eyes. Their larvae then grow and reproduce inside the animal’s eye.
Beckley’s situation was the first case of this kind and it surprised even experienced and important experts. According to researchers, they now want to find out more about these new species that can apparently also infect people.
Image source: Pixabay
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