Chinese Doctors Remove Two 10cm Live Worms From Woman’s Arm After Lump Grows For A Year

A woman in southern China was left horrified after doctors discovered and removed two living 10cm-long worms from her arm, following months of worsening pain and a steadily growing lump. According to the South China Morning Post, the woman, identified by her surname Wang, first noticed a small lump on her arm about a year ago. Over time, the swelling continued to grow until it reached the size of a quail egg. As the pain intensified, she finally sought treatment at Shenzhen People’s Hospital in Guangdong province, according to Shenzhen TV.

After medical examinations, doctors extracted two live sparganum worms — parasites that can infect humans and migrate through different parts of the body.

According to doctors, the parasites may have entered Wang’s body through food contamination linked to her cooking habits. Wang recalled that she frequently prepared frogs at home and used the same chopping board to handle both raw frogs and cold dishes.

Hospital specialists believe the chopping board and kitchen knife may have been contaminated with sparganum cysts. These cysts could have transferred onto ready-to-eat food, allowing the parasites to enter the human body.

“Unlike other parasites, sparganums would not mature into adults while in the human body; instead, they just move around among various tissues,” said an unidentified doctor from the Shenzhen hospital’s dermatological department. “They may go into the hypodermis, muscles, eyes, chest, brain and viscera. The most common symptom is lumps under the skin,” the doctor added.

The doctor said, “Do not let carelessness in your kitchen become a loophole for parasites.”

Health experts noted that Wang’s practice of using the same chopping board for raw and cooked food is relatively common in China, where many people believe detergent cleaning is sufficient to eliminate parasite eggs.

Cases involving parasites discovered inside patients’ bodies frequently attract public attention in China. In April, surgeons in Guangdong removed an 8cm-long worm from a woman’s brain after she experienced a series of unexplained health problems. The woman suspected the infection may have been linked to several risky habits, including placing a raw frog’s leg inside a tooth cavity decades earlier, drinking untreated mountain spring water, or consuming medicinal snake wine.

Another alarming case surfaced in May in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, where doctors removed a 5cm-long worm from a man’s brain. The patient admitted to regularly drinking untreated mountain water and consuming raw pig’s blood.