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PK Krishnamurthy (right) went to eye surgeon Dr V Seetharaman. Image: bangaloremirror.com

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MUMBAI - When an elderly Indian patient came to Dr V. Seetharaman with persistent pain in his eye, what the surgeon found was reminiscent of a far-fetched alien movie plot: a live, 13 centimetre-long worm.

On examining the 75-year-old at Mumbai’s Fortis Hospital this week, the eye expert was shocked by the highly unusual sight of the writhing parasite and had to operate speedily to remove it before serious damage was caused.

“It was wriggling there under the conjunctiva,” Seetharaman said, referring to the thin membrane lining the eye. “It was the first time in my career of 30 years that I had seen such a case.” 

Retired patient P.K. Krishnamurthy had been suffering for more than two weeks with redness and irritation before the doctor pin-pointed the threadlike creature under a microscope on Wednesday.

“He was also confused and very much disturbed,” said Seetharaman.

The specialist removed the 13-centimetre (five-inch) worm by making a small opening in the conjunctiva — a 15-minute operation that was observed by the patient’s horrified wife, Saraswati.

“It just kept moving and jumping; it was scary for a bit,” she told the Mumbai Mirror.

The patient was relieved of his symptoms while the worm, which was alive for another 30 minutes after surgery, was sent to the hospital’s microbiologists to be identified.

Seetharaman had previously only heard of worms of about two to three centimetres being removed. “Probably this is a record,” he said.

He suggested the creature could have entered the patient from a cut in his foot or from eating raw or improperly cooked food, before entering the bloodstream and travelling to the eye.

“If the worm was not removed it could have gone into the layers of the eye and caused visual loss,” he said. “It could have entered the brain and caused major neurological problems.” 

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Fri May 24 13:23:13 SAST 2013 ::

Jun 29, 2012

MommaC

EEEEEWWWWWW !!!!!!!!!!!!
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Jun 29, 2012

VENDALIOUS

now thats nasty

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Jun 29, 2012

Skopokopo

Eishhhhhhhh! scary!
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Jun 29, 2012

GODIYOUBA

these things seem to only happen in india, one wonders
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Jun 29, 2012

BaleliM

eeeewwwww. chicken skin on my body right now!
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Jun 29, 2012

Papage

Not only Black magic heh? Idian Magic as well
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Jun 29, 2012

Sbokoboko

Hayi khona, scary s$%t.
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Jun 29, 2012

Shredder

Sbokoboko means sebokogadi, ke raya seboko se setona? Just asking.
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Jun 29, 2012

Secretary

I never thought there is Limpopo in India
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Jun 29, 2012

Stumaeza

Eish Sowetan
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