Man has worm removed from his leg after mistaking it for varicose vein after trip to Nigeria

A 42-year-old Chinese man spotted what seemed like a varicose vein on the side of his foot after returning from a holiday in Nigeria. He went to the doctors to have it examined and got a rude shock. He was carrying a worm around in his foot.

Medics at the Peking Union Medical College, in Beijing, examined his foot and found a red, raised tract with a wavy margin.

They told the patient he had a cutanteous larva migrans, a parasitic skin infection caused by hookworm larvae, living in his foot.

The parasite cannot burrow deeper into the skin and is visible just beneath the outer skin, the disease is common in tropical countries and is normally seen on the feet, back, buttocks, thighs, or abdomen.