Couple eaten alive by worms

Planning to eat fish for dinner? Beware! A couple fell ill after tiny razor-toothed worms began gnawing their way through their bodies. The couple had consumed pan fried fish earlier.

Planning to eat fish for dinner? Beware! A couple fell ill after tiny razor-toothed worms began gnawing their way through their bodies. The couple had consumed pan fried fish earlier.

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According to a new report in The Australian Medical Journal, the couple realised that they were being eaten alive by these 1-3mm long worms after weeks of chronic sickness.

They had ingested the gnathostomiasis larvae present in the fish they consumed.

This is the first time humans have been infected by the parasite in Australia.

These worms have sharp teeth and can easily work their way around the body including the brain until it dies or is killed by the immune system.

"They move under the skin and cause itchy lumps that can make you feel sick - and it can be very hard to diagnose. They eat your tissues," Alfred Hospital's Dr Andrew Fuller told Herald Sun.

The 52-year-old man confessed that he could feel the worms move under his skin.

The couple survived.