Reptile roundworm infection in human

[Armiyana]

This is an interesting one for me! Raccoon roundworms are known to encapsulate in human brains, but apparently roundworms present in wild carpet Pythons in Australia can too.

https://www.australiangeographic.com...-womans-brain/

[Bogertophis]

I saw that too & was going to post it. WASH THOSE SALAD GREENS! (or cook them thoroughly)

[Homebody]

For anyone new to the hobby and considering a carpet python as a pet, Australia banned exports many years ago. So, any carpet python you'll find for sale will be captive born and bred (CBB) and not wild caught (WC). As a result, very unlikely to harbor parasites like the roundworm mentioned in this article.

[Bogertophis]

For anyone new to the hobby and considering a carpet python as a pet, Australia banned exports many years ago. So, any carpet python you'll find for sale will be captive born and bred (CBB) and not wild caught (WC). As a result, very unlikely to harbor parasites like the roundworm mentioned in this article.

For sure- and it's one reason we heartily endorse captive-bred animals. (Besides protecting the future survival of indigenous wildlife whether in the U.S. or worldwide.)

[Armiyana]

But it's also very interesting since this Australian woman doesn't even keep snakes.
There was an article I read about a village with multiple psittacosis cases. And none of the people kept birds. Everyone picked it up as environmental contaminants. As someone who had psittacosis, that was interesting to me too.

Just a casual reminder that life happens. Lol. (And wash your veggies)

Also.... This is another good reason to avoid feeding your animals anything wild caught as well. Or deworming long term escapees in the case of a lost animal.

Weirdly... I have a bathroom opossum for a year now. My dog found him as a super anemic orphan. He ended up being a super picky eater...and carrying besonoitis. So that scrapped getting him released or placed around other opossums. He has mostly good days, but some rough ones.

[Bogertophis]

But it's also very interesting since this Australian woman doesn't even keep snakes.
There was an article I read about a village with multiple psittacosis cases. And none of the people kept birds. Everyone picked it up as environmental contaminants. As someone who had psittacosis, that was interesting to me too.

Just a casual reminder that life happens. Lol. (And wash your veggies)

Also.... This is another good reason to avoid feeding your animals anything wild caught as well. Or deworming long term escapees in the case of a lost animal.

Weirdly... I have a bathroom opossum for a year now. My dog found him as a super anemic orphan. He ended up being a super picky eater...and carrying besonoitis. So that scrapped getting him released or placed around other opossums. He has mostly good days, but some rough ones.

Yeah, that woman was just gathering greens to eat. No matter where you live, you always have to be aware of contamination from wildlife- their feces, their parasites. Even snails/slugs can carry some terrible things that we can catch. With psittacosis, that can be hard to avoid since birds are everywhere, & especially when people frequently feed them too.

This reminds me of that documentary series "Monsters Inside Me"-part horror & part medical detective (true) stories- I find it both fascinating & disturbing.

About your "bathroom opossum", what is "besonoitis"? Even google doesn't seem to know- is that the right spelling?

[Armiyana]

I was not braining well this morning!
besnoitiosis!

It's a protozoan type parasite (Besnoitia darlingi) which sadly has no known way of treating it. Cattle can carry a different species of it as well.
Supposedly, cats don't seem to show symptoms of infection, but in opossums, they get encapsulation cysts everywhere. You can really see them inside the ear, along his tongue or there's one on his cornea that we've been keeping an eye on too. Who knows how badly his insides look though given he's got them everywhere else.

[Bogertophis]

I was not braining well this morning!
besnoitiosis!

It's a protozoan type parasite (Besnoitia darlingi) which sadly has no known way of treating it. Cattle can carry a different species of it as well.
Supposedly, cats don't seem to show symptoms of infection, but in opossums, they get encapsulation cysts everywhere. You can really see them inside the ear, along his tongue or there's one on his cornea that we've been keeping an eye on too. Who knows how badly his insides look though given he's got them everywhere else.

Oh, that poor critter! That sounds awful. So it sounds like cats can carry it? Any zoonotic risks we should be aware of?

[Armiyana]

Yeah, cats can carry but not show symptoms.
I haven't been able to find anything about people getting it, but who knows? It just may not be something we're aware of being possible. Iirc a handful of people also contracted feline Chlamydia as well which was thought to be feline only for a long while....