Health24.com | GRAPHIC: Woman has 14 worms pulled from eye after rare infection

An Oregon woman who had worms coming out of her eye is the first known human case of a parasitic infection spread by flies.

Fourteen tiny worms were removed from the left eye of the 26-year-old woman in August 2016, scientists reported.

Normally seen in cattle

The report was recently published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

The woman, Abby Beckley, was diagnosed with Thelazia gulosa. That’s a type of eye worm seen in cattle in the northern United States and southern Canada, but never before in humans.

However, two other types of Thelazia eye worm infections had been seen in people before, according to Richard Bradbury of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He was the study’s lead author.

They are spread by a type of fly known as “face flies”. The flies feed on the tears that lubricate the eyeball, scientists said.

If the worms remain in a person’s eye for a prolonged time, they can cause corneal scarring and even blindness, according to the researchers. 

She had been horseback riding and fishing in Gold Beach, Oregon, a coastal, cattle-farming area.

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No additional symptoms

After a week of eye irritation, Beckley pulled a worm from her eye. Over the next two weeks, doctors removed 13 more.

The worms were translucent and each less than 1.27cm long.

After they were removed, no more worms were found and she had no additional symptoms.

Eye worms are seen in several kinds of animals, including cats and dogs. They can be spread by different kinds of flies.

Image credit: iStock

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Health24.com | Why it’s great to learn a second language

Is learning a second language on your bucket list? Here’s compelling evidence to get started right away.

Numerous studies at institutions, including Penn State, have found that learning a new language is great for brain health. It can strengthen your brain just as exercise strengthens your muscles. And like muscles, the more you work at it, the stronger your brain gets.

Long-range benefits

The parts of the brain that develop in size are the hippocampus and areas in the cerebral cortex. This growth leads to better language skills overall. So, over time, the more you study and practise, the easier learning the language becomes.

Researchers say that people who speak two languages are better able to focus on key information. This helps you to prioritise tasks and manage multiple projects at once.

And there are long-range benefits, too. The onset of Alzheimer’s disease symptoms can be delayed by about four years in people who speak two languages, research has found.

A previous Health24 article reported that bilingual people with Alzheimer’s outperformed single-language speakers in short- and long-term memory tasks.

Challenge your grey matter

Once you’ve chosen the language you’re most interested in, there are many ways to get started, from online classes to self-driven instruction. Because pronunciation is key to feeling comfortable using a foreign language, make sure that whatever technique you use includes an audio component.

Keep in mind that you need to actively practise your new language to get all the benefits – using two languages is what works the brain. So, to keep challenging your grey matter, read books and watch foreign films (no cheating with subtitles!) in that language.

If you’re feeling adventurous, you might even take a trip to a country where the language is spoken and fully immerse yourself.

Image credit: iStock

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