38-mm long Roundworm found in woman's tonsil in Japan (Representational image)
In a bizarre incident, a 25-year-old woman got a nasty surprise after eating sashimi. The doctor found a black 38-mm long roundworm squirming in her left tonsil. According to reports, the woman was sent to St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo five days after eating sashimi and was complaining of pain and irritation in the back of her throat.
According to Business Insider, the doctors immediately conducted blood tests on her, and it went back normal. Overall, she seemed otherwise fine, but a closer inspection of her throat revealed that something was off. The doctors extracted the roundworm by a tweezer.
The doctors wrote in their case report that DNA PCR and the fact that the worm was in exuviation revealed this worm was a fourth-stage larva of Pseudoterranova azarasi.
P. azarasi is a type of nematode or roundworm, and they are a known hazard of eating another Japanese food, the sushi. Infection to the throat by this parasite is rare since most of the 700 cases reported during the mid-1990s across Japan, the North Pacific countries, South America, and the Netherlands mostly occurred in the stomach.
"Although oropharyngeal infection is rare, this infection is known to cause 'tingling throat syndrome' and cough and should be considered a differential diagnosis of oropharyngeal parasitosis as consuming raw fish, including sushi and sashimi, has become more popular and the number of reported cases has markedly increased worldwide," the doctors wrote in their report.
