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Worm in Eye Leads to Vision Loss
SHANGHAI,
CHINA -- Doctors believe a 24-year-old woman to be the first person
in Asia to suffer diffuse unilateral subacute neuroretinitis (DUSN),
a type of eye inflammation thought to be caused by a parasitic worm
called a nematode, Archives of Ophthalmology reported. DUSN can
lead to vision loss.
Small nematodes (400 to 1,000 micrometers) live in the southeastern
U.S., the Caribbean islands and Brazil. Large nematodes (1,500 to
2,000 micrometers) live in the northern midwestern U.S. Doctors
Jiping Cai, Ruili Wei, Li Zhu, Meifeng Cao and Suqing Yu said the
woman's vision was 20/20 in her good eye and 20/200 in her bad eye
(left) when they first saw her. She had complained of painless vision
loss over the previous two weeks. A week later, they saw a worm
in her eye.
She had avoided common worm sources: "The patient was born and raised
in an urban area (Shanghai, China) with no experience of close contact
with cats, dogs or raccoons. She had never ingested raw fish, nor
had she drunk fresh water." The doctors used laser treatment. The
inflammation is gone, but the woman's left eye remains 20/200.
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