List of All Articles with Tag 'coronavirus'

Like other fans, one reflected on science stating, 'I follow the science, masks don’t work'

A worm has been found living inside a woman’s brain, in a horror-movie-style world first. Doctors in Canberra, Australia, were left stunned after they pulled the 8cm (3in) parasite from the patient’s damaged frontal lobe tissue during surgery last year. "Everyone [in] that operating theatre got the shock of their life when [the surgeon] took some forceps to pick up an abnormality and the abnormality turned out to be a wriggling, live 8cm light red worm," said infectious diseases doctor Sanjaya Senanayake, according to the BBC. "Even if you take away the yuck factor, this is a new infection never documented before in a human being." Senanayake and his colleagues believe the parasite could have been in there for up to two months. The patient, a 64-year-old woman from New South Wales, was first admitted to her local hospital in late January 2021 after suffering three weeks of abdominal pain and diarrhoea, followed by a constant dry cough, fever and night sweats, The Guardian reports. By 2022, her symptoms extended to forgetfulness and depression, and she was referred to Canberra Hospital, where an MRI scan of her brain revealed “abnormalities” that required surgery. “The neurosurgeon certainly didn’t go in there thinking they would find a wriggling worm,” Senanayake told the paper. “Neurosurgeons regularly deal with infections in the brain, but this was a once-in-a-career finding. No one was expecting to find that.” The team at the hospital sent the worm to an experienced parasite researcher who identified it as an Ophidascaris robertsi. This type of roundworm is commonly found in carpet pythons – non-venomous snakes that are ubiquitous across much of Australia. Writing in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, Mehrab Hossain, a parasitologist, said she suspected that the patient became an "accidental host" to the worm after cooking with foraged plants. The 64-year-old was known to have often collected native grasses from around her lakeside home, Senanayake told The Guardian. He and his co-workers have concluded that the woman was probably infected after a python shed eggs from the parasite via its faeces into the grass. By touching the plants, she may then have transferred the eggs into her own food or kitchen utensils. Fortunately, the unlucky and unique patient is said to be making a good recovery. However, Senanayake told the BBC that her case should serve as an important warning to society more broadly. "It just shows as a human population burgeons, we move closer and encroach on animal habitats. This is an issue we see again and again, whether it's Nipah virus that's gone from wild bats to domestic pigs and then into people, whether its a coronavirus like Sars or Mers that has jumped from bats into possibly a secondary animal and then into humans,” he said. "Even though Covid is now slowly petering away, it is really important for epidemiologists… and governments to make sure they've got good infectious diseases surveillance around." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The parasite - usually found in pythons - could have been there for two months, scientists say.

The Mexican government says it has sent 1,200 more troops to the cartel-dominated western state of Michoacan after a weekend of violence

As worker actions continue from Hollywood to Detroit, and new labor unions crop up nationally, the White House on Monday was highlighting its effort to bolster worker organizing throughout the U_S_ President Joe Biden is counting on critical labor support as he campaigns for a second term in office, holding his first re-election campaign rally at a Pennsylvania union hall in June, declaring: “I’m proud to be the most pro-union president in American history.”

Britain’s air traffic control system says it has fixed a “technical issue” that caused heavy delays and cancellations

The box office results are in and Sony’s racing movie “Gran Turismo” won the weekend over “Barbie” after all

China will no longer require a negative COVID-19 test result from incoming travelers starting Wednesday

Many North Koreans were stranded overseas after the country shut its borders in early 2020 to keep Covid out.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and her Chinese counterpart have expressed support for improving trade conditions as Raimondo begins a visit to Beijing as part of U.S. efforts to improve chilly relations

America's K-12 schools received the largest-ever infusion of federal aid to help them address pandemic-related challenges, yet students are still struggling to catch up from the learning loss they experienced during remote learning.

Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan have resumed their years-long negotiations over the controversial dam Ethiopia is building on the Nile River’s main tributary