A man in eastern India went to the doctor complaining of reduced vision, redness, pain and floaters. Optometrists discovered that there was a live work living in his eye. Specifically, the work lived behind the lens and in front of his retina.

The patient tested for 20/160 vision indicating that sight in his affected eye was impaired due to the creature that “moved around in a messy and persistent manner through the vitreous cavity.”

Surgeons operated to remove the worm as using anti-parasitic drugs could have resulted in a more toxic reaction. Following the treatment, the man’s vision improved to 20/40. The worm was sent to the microbiology department where scientists identified it as a male adult Loa Loa worm, a roundworm that can grow up to 34 mm long. It is a parasite transmitted by flies that breed in high-canopied rain forests of West and Central Africa.

This was the first known case of African eye worm living in the vitreous cavity of the eye. Doctors believe that it may have migrated there in its larval stage from blood through ciliary vessels or by burrowing through the coats of the eyeball.