A Kidney Worm Infection Kills a Women!

An elderly woman admitted to hospital with stomach pains died after surgeons discovered a huge parasite living in - and eating - one of her kidneys. Hana Foldynova, 76, had been admitted to hospital with severe abdominal pains and after her family doctor discovered blood in her urine.

Doctors at the hospital in Krnov, in the Czech Republic, decided to operate and they were shocked to find a dark red, 3.9-inch long parasite - which they initially mistook for a blood clot - living in one of her kidneys.

Deadly invader: The giant kidney worm was removed, but the woman died a short time later

Worse still, surgeons also had to remove a second, slightly smaller worm measuring 2.4 inches that had crawled into the woman's bladder. Urologist Jan Pulcer said: "When patients have blood in their urine, it is usually caused by some kidney stone, inflammation or cancer. But this was very surprising for us."

The parasite was identified as a giant kidney worm, also known as Dioctophyme renale, a parasite usually found in dogs but extremely rare in humans. A giant kidney worm can live in the human body up to five years. It can only be removed by surgery, and if left will destroy the kidney.

Doctors said the woman, weakened by the worm that had destroyed her kidney, did not recover after it had been removed and had died a short time later. The organisms were sent to the National Laboratory to confirm the diagnosis. Head urologist, Ivo Odstrcil, said it was not clear how the parasite got into the woman's body, although the usual method was by eating badly cooked fish.

“Her family have said that she liked local seafood. We assume that she was infected after she had eaten badly cooked fish,” Odstrcil said.

A giant kidney worm can live in the human body up to five years, according to scientific literature, reported CEN. Human infestation is extremely rare, and the current case is the first and only one recorded in the Czech Republic.

Giant Kidney Worms

Dioctophyma renale or call Giant Kidney Worm, the largest known nematode, has a worldwide distribution. Many other species, including dogs and humans, can become infected. The definitive host contracts the parasite by ingesting encysted larvae in raw fish (eg, pike, bullhead) or frogs, or by ingesting an infected annelid worm. The larvae penetrate the bowel wall and migrate first to the liver and later to the kidneys. In dogs, the parasite often fails to reach the kidneys and may be found free in the abdominal cavity. Kidney worms grow larger in dogs which can be reaching up to 103 cm.

Life Cycle of Giant Kidney Worms

Female worms are larger than male worms, and both are blood red. Both male and female worms must be present in the same kidney to complete the life cycle. Barrel-shaped, yellow-brown eggs with a thick pitted shell measuring 71–84 × 45–52 μm are shed into the urine.

In the kidneys, the worm(s) cause obstruction, hydronephrosis, and destruction of the renal parenchyma. The right kidney is most commonly affected. Kidney failure can result if both kidneys are parasitized. Chronic peritonitis, adhesions, and liver disease are also possible. Clinical signs are hematuria, pollakiuria, weight loss, and renal or abdominal pain. Urinalysis may reveal proteinuria, hematuria, and pyuria. IV pyelography or ultrasonography shows the enlarged hydronephrotic kidney. 

Worms from one single kidney

The diagnosis is made by finding the eggs in the urine sediment if both sexes of the nematode are present in the kidney and the ureter is patent. Alternatively, exploratory laparotomy may reveal the diagnosis. Worms may be found in the peritoneal cavity, between the lobes of the liver, or within the affected kidney(s) via nephrotomy.

Check out the video below for a finding in a dogs abdominal cavity.

Unilateral nephrectomy is the treatment of choice if the opposite kidney is unaffected. Preventing ingestion of raw fish or other aquatic organisms is recommended in areas where the parasite is known to infect wild animals.

Worms (parasites) infections are very dangerous, so next time when you eat, make sure it is well-cooked. Think twice before you try on something raw.

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