Shocked Mom Finds Huge Parasitic WORM in Two-Year-Old Daughter’s Diaper — Which CDC Says Was Caught From Pigs on Family Farm
- The patient had been suffering from abdominal cramps and diarrhea for two weeks
- The mother found a moving worm in the young girl’s diaper, which she filmed
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A toddler in Mississippi contracted a parasitic worm that was discovered in her diaper by her shocked mother.
The girl, who lived on a farm in New Albany, Union County, had been suffering from stomach cramps and diarrhea for two weeks and had lost her appetite.
The mother found a moving worm in the two-year-old’s diaper while she was changing her, filmed the worm and then threw the diaper and worm away.
CDC researchers later identified the worm in the video as an Ascaris lumbricoides – a large parasitic roundworm – which they believe she picked up from a pig on her farm.
Health officials believed the toddler had picked up the parasitic worm from a pig kept on her family’s farm
The girl, who lived on a farm in New Albany, Union County, had been suffering from stomach cramps and diarrhea for two weeks and had lost her appetite.
Ascaris parasites live in the intestine. Ascaris eggs are passed through the feces of infected people or animals. If you swallow it, the eggs can hatch inside you.
The family, who were originally from Mexico but had lived in the US for 13 years, said the child and her twin sister sometimes ate soil from their houseplants.
It was thought that the child may have acquired the infection from pigs, which are a common carrier of parasitic worms.
If an infected pig had walked outside, worm eggs would have been deposited on the ground.
The worm eggs can then develop into a form of the parasite that can infect others.
An adult female A. lumbricoides, as found in the Mississippi toddler’s diaper
If contaminated soil had been used for the houseplants and the toddler had eaten the soil, she could have swallowed the worm eggs.
Ascariasis often shows no symptoms but may include abdominal pain or aches.
There are an estimated four million cases of ascariasis in the US at any time.
The toddler was taken to the family’s local pediatrician, where she was given ivermectin, an anti-parasite drug used to treat infections caused by roundworms, pinworms and other parasites.
No worm eggs or extra worms were found in stool samples from the young girl.
The Mississippi State Department of Health visited the patient’s home, but the family’s pigs had been sent to slaughter.
Health officials reminded family members of the importance of washing hands, especially after touching the ground where pigs had defecated.
Only one worm was shed by the patient even after treatment, and the absence of eggs during treatment suggested that the toddler had a single worm infection.
Ascaris lumbricoides worms can live for up to two years in humans, and eggs can remain viable in the soil for up to ten years.
The CDC is interested in reports of parasitic worms after an increase in hookworm cases was reported in rural Alabama in the US.
The researchers concluded that sporadic cases of ascariasis in America most commonly occur in animals, with exposure to pigs or soil contaminated with pig feces being the main risk factor.