Teen infected with worms in his eye playing with stray dog

The 14-year-old patient saw blurry spots in his left eye and went to see an eye doctor immediately. After inspection, Doctor Chan Wei-chun, ophthalmologist of Mackay Memorial Hospital, discovered white turbid materials on the vitreous in his left eyeball, in addition to bleeding. These unknown white substances were later confirmed as roundworm larvae.

According to Doctor Chan, roundworms is a common intestinal parasite in dogs and cats; if humans touch infected dogs without washing their hands afterwards, they are likely to become contaminated with roundworms' eggs. Those eggs would travel through the body where they develop into larvae, and through blood circulation, could move on to the eyes, brain and other organs, and in the most serious cases, cause blindness or seizures.

The roundworms would develop into mature worms in the intestine of hosts and deposit eggs, which are passed out with the stool and grow into infective larvae. These contaminated soil or stool may get onto hosts' body, Doctor Chan said. People should wash their hands every time after touching soil or playing with dogs or cats, Chan added.

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