Woman has live worm removed from her tonsil, after eating sashimi

Five days after having sashimi in Japan, a woman found herself having an increasingly sore throat. When the irritation got too much, she decided to visit a hospital in Tokyo to have it checked out. Neither she, nor the doctor, could have expected what they found.

The doctor found something wriggling in the lady's left tonsil. He grabbed his forceps and retrieved the unidentified object.

Pseudoterranova azaras is what he was clutching when he removed the forceps from her mouth. For those of us unfamiliar with this (that's all of us, I presume?) that's a type or roundworm. 4cm in length and still very much alive, it had been wriggling around in her throat since she ate the sashimi.

This is the not so little fella [Image: CNN]

This is the not so little fella [Image: CNN]

This parasite doesn't normally infect humans, it tends to go between crustaceans and fish, but if a human eats raw seafood containing the worm, it can be passed on.

The woman has, believe it or not, had something of a lucky escape as the majority of reported Pseudoterranova azaras infections have been in the gut. This would have given her terrible abdominal cramps and symptoms similar to those of someone suffering from Crohn's.

Did you ever think you would see the day where having a live worm removed from your throat was lucky?

Thankfully, the woman's blood results were all normal and she recovered very shortly afterwards. Physically, that is... we aren't so sure about her appetite.