Loa Loa worms (also known as the “eye worm”) are classified as filarial worms, meaning they thrive in human tissue. The Loa Loa worm is also called the “eye worm” because they often migrate through the eye and surrounding subsurface areas. At one time, prior to the 1920s, loa loa worm infections occurred in the United States. Today, however, they mainly infect people who are native to Sudan, and those who live in or near Central and West Africa’s swamps and rain forests.

An Australian woman whose eyes clamp shut for three days at a time, then open up for the next three, has baffled specialists.

Natalie Adler, 21, from Melbourne, has been locked in the extraordinary routine for four years. Doctors believe she may be the only person in the world with the condition.

“My eyes are closed for three days and then open for three days,” Ms Adler said. “Something happens overnight on the third night. I go to bed and I can open my eyes, and then when I wake up the next day I can’t. Nobody knows why.”

Ms Adler has undergone hundreds of tests since her life dramatically changed in mid-Year 11 at school. Associate Professor Justin O’Day, head of the hospital’s neuro-ophthalmology unit at the Royal Eye and Ear Hospital said: “Natalie’s a mystery. She’s a one-off, we don’t have a diagnosis.”

During “closed-eye days”, Ms Adler’s eyes are completely shut, except for a small slit in her left eye. On “open-eye days”, they function normally, though the left eyelid can droop.

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[VIA]