Doctors found a live python parasite in a woman’s brain

Ophidascaris robertsi was a nematode whose main host is a snake.

The woman, who lives in New South Wales , Australia , is the first documented case of an infection in humans.

It's not clear exactly how the woman became infected, but doctors suspect she may have accidentally consumed worm eggs camouflaged in some edible plants.

One study estimated that about 1 in 20 people in the United States have been exposed to Toxocara .

Like O. robertsi worms, larvae can rattle the stomach and inflame the organs.

Doctors have reported cases where the worms meandered up to a person’s eye.