Use a selfie to keep track of 'parasitic worms' moving back and forth on the face for 2 weeks

After the doctors tugged at the worm, her skin completely recovered.

A 32-year-old woman visiting a rural area outside Moscow returned home with a surprisingly strange object on her face. According to a short report published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), there is a "tumor" on the girl's face.

Parasitic worms are removed from the girl's face.

After her trip, she noticed an unusual lump on her cheek, beneath her left eye. Five days later, it disappeared, but another one formed just above her left eye. Ten days later, a tumor floated on her upper lip, causing a large swelling.

To monitor her mobile tumor , she took a selfie. In the report to the doctor, she said that the nodules produce some burning and itching but no symptoms or other problems. She also notes her recent trip and recalls being bitten by mosquitoes often.

Mobile tumor on the girl's face.

Doctors determined that this cell tumor was actually a pathogenic parasite , potentially transmitted when a girl was bitten by a mosquito during her trip. Using clamps, the doctors pin it down (to fix) and surgery to remove this slightly long, thin and yellow tumor. Subsequent genetic tests determine this is the type of worm Dirofilaria repens .

The parasite moves up the eyelid.

Dirofilaria repens are parasitic worms mainly on hosts such as dogs, other carnivores and migrate to mosquitoes - they only infect people by chance. They tend to be found in areas of Europe, Asia and Africa. According to previous studies, these parasitic worms mature when they are about 170 mm long and live up to 10 years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that D. repens are not found in the United States.

Dogs are the favorite parasite of this worm, D. repens live in the subcutaneous tissue, and the female releases larvae into the parasite's blood. These larvae then migrate to mosquitoes when they bite and suck the animals. Then the mosquitoes bite other animals and the D. repens worm will be moved to another host. In humans, D. repens are found under the skin layer when the victim feels the nodules rise (similar to the girl in this case). Doctors sometimes call this "creeping eruption ." In rare cases, worms can enter organs, such as the lungs, chest, male genitalia and eyes.

The woman in this case recovered completely after the doctor took the worms out of her body.

The main author of the NEJM report, Vladimir Kartashev, an infectious disease specialist at Rostov-na-Donu Medical University, Russia, told the Washington Post in an email that D. repens is an " emerging disease". in the west (part of the former Soviet Union) and parts of Europe. Since 1997, he said that there were more than 4,000 cases in the region, especially in Russia and Ukraine.

Fortunately, these worms are very easy to remove from the body and after such times it will not cause any ominous consequences. The woman in this case recovered completely after the doctor took the worms out of her body.