Burning Sensation in Woman's Legs Caused by Brain Worms She Got on a Three-Week Vacation

Mar. 15, 2025

(Left:) Stock image of a woman scratching her legs; (Right) Angiostrongylus cantonensis, aka, the “rat lungworm”.Photo:Getty; CDC

Getty; CDC

A woman who experiencedburning painin her feet and eventually severe confusion stumped doctors — until they looked into what she ate during a three-week vacation to Thailand, Japan, and Hawaii.

That’s when they realized she might havebrain worms.

A woman from coastal New England, 30, is the subject of a case study published in theNew England Journal of Medicine,which explains that her first symptom, fatigue, was initially chalked up to jet-lag. But then, she began to experience a burning sensation in her feet, which then traveled up to her legs and “worsened with light touch,” Dr. Carlos A. Portales Castillo, who eventually treated her at Massachusetts General Hospital, writes.

Close up of Angiostrongylus cantonensis.CDC

CDC

Her roommate finally brought her to Mass General after “she awoke, she thought she needed to pack for vacation and was not redirectable,” Castillo writes, adding she remained confused for “several hours.”

She was eventually diagnosed with human infection with larvae of the rat lungworm.

In Hawaii “she swam in the ocean several times and frequently ate both salad and sushi,” Castillo says.

Stock image of raw sushi.Getty

Getty

The snails and slugs pick up the infection from the feces of infected rats,Arstechnicaexplains, who may also contract it from eating an infected snail. The rats also vomit the eggs from their lungs — hence the name “rat lungworm” — and then eat them. As the journal notes, it’s a “complicated life cycle.”

The patient was treated with the steroidprednisone— which suppresses the immune system — and an anti-parasite medication, and after six days was discharged.

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source: people.com