Disgusting! 5-inch Long Live Worm Found Behind...

If someone shows up at the doctor with a red, irritated and itchy eye, a 5-inch long live worm living in the patients eye socket is usually not the cause. For 75-year-old PK Krishnamurthy from Mumbai, that's exactly what caused his symptoms! He was sent home with some medication to clear up his "eye infection," but it just got worse. He went back to the doctor who discovered the nasty "little" hanger-on. Yuck! Wonder if he felt the thing moving around, especially after he was told what was in there?

Krishnamurthy went to Fortis Hospital in Mumbai where eye surgeon, Dr. V Seetharaman removed the parasite from his eye socket in a "minor surgery." The man's wife was able to watch the surgery and said, "It just kept moving and jumping; it was scary for a bit." The doctor commented, "Mr. Krishnamurthy was lucky the worm was found in time. His symptoms have now disappeared but it appears he was lucky the worm travelled only as far as his eye. If it had not been removed it could have entered the patient's brain and caused major neurological problems."

Doctors aren't sure how the worm wormed his way into Krishnamurthy's eye socket, but parasites that infect humans are a huge public health problem in India. The doctors in this case said even though it's rare, sometimes they find their way into a person's bloodstream and then grow inside the body. They may get more answers soon, the live worm was taken to a microbiology lab for testing. There are other parasites such as tapeworms that can live in the human body and icky creepers like botflies that lay their larva inside people's skin. Mr. Krishnamurthy will probably have nightmares for years!