SHANGHAI (SCMP): Surgeons in southern China have removed an 8cm-long worm from a woman’s brain after she suffered from multiple mystery health problems.
The 61-year-old had brain surgery at a hospital in Guangdong province in early April, the Shenzhen Evening News reported.
Doctors said the existence of the parasite may have been due to an experience the woman had when she was young.
She recalled that when she was a teenager, her mother caught a frog in the wild and inserted the croaker’s leg into her tooth cavity in a bid to cure a bout of toothache.
Local folklore was of the belief that a frog’s leg could “fish out tooth worms”.
The woman said later she frequently drank raw mountain spring water and also tried snake wine as a remedy.
In 2021, she underwent lumbar vertebra surgery. After that, she often felt numbness in her arms, legs and scalp.
Last summer, when the temperatures were high, the woman still felt extremely cold.
She also experienced frequent convulsions at the end of last year.
Initially, doctors could not identify the cause of her illness until a neurologist noticed a tunnel-shaped trace left by a parasite moving in her brain.
“Finally we found what caused her health problems. The surgery went smoothly and her condition improved a lot,” the woman’s husband told the media.
Back in black
The woman, known by her alias Zhazha, attracted attention at a live-streaming session for the electronic game Naraka: Bladepoint, which was developed by a domestic company, reported by the news outlet www.china.com.
It came days after she wore a miniskirt during another live-stream.
Internet users noticed that Zhazha kept adjusting her legs and appeared afraid of a wardrobe malfunction.
Her male counterpart wore a suit and looked relaxed.
Some people criticised Zhazha for intentionally wearing the miniskirt to “pander to the male gaze”, while others blamed the event organiser for requiring females to wear revealing clothes.
Zhazhao said she was free to wear whatever clothes she wanted and the organiser had never intervened.
However, internet users did not buy her explanation, with some people even saying Zhazha “had betrayed them”.
This led Zhazha to go completely black in a following session.
“I could not help laughing when she appeared in front of the camera,” said one internet user.
Another person said: “I hope people can focus on a female commentator’s analysis of the game, rather than how short her skirt is.”
Bee careful
A man in China who left his car window open was shocked to find dozens of bees had made a honeycomb when he returned from a 15-minute errand.
The driver in eastern Zhejiang province called the fire brigade for help, The Paper reported.
He was so frightened that he dared not get back into the car.
A honeycomb was formed attached to the interior of the vehicle above the passenger seat.
Firefighters in protective clothing tore off the honeycomb, put it into a sealed bag before moving it to a safe area to kill the insects. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
