A young child being treated for appendicitis actually had a rare, deadly parasite living in her abdomen.

The 10-year-old girl had been living in Switzerland for six months after migrating from Eritrea, a country in northeast Africa bordering Sudan and Ethiopia, when she was admitted to her local hospital with abdominal pain near her belly button and vomiting. 

Doctors treating her assumed she had appendicitis, inflammation of the appendix that affects 300,000 Americans every year and requires the organ to immediately be removed.

Blood tests and ultrasound scans showed the appendix, a finger-sized pouch in the lower right abdomen, was enlarged and inflamed, leading doctors to surgically remove it. 

But during the operation, doctors spotted several 'white spots' near her liver, one of which appeared to contain the parasitic worm Schistosoma, which is found in snails living in rivers, lakes and creeks and enters the human body through open wounds in the skin. 

The parasite had led the girl to contact the infection schistosomiasis, which can lead to flu-like symptoms. 

Schistosomiasis had spread to the girl's liver and caused her to develop granulomatous hepatitis, which can cause the organ to become enlarged and scarred, potentially leading to organ failure. 

However, she only had symptoms of appendicitis and not schistosomiasis, so doctors suspect if she had not sought medical care, the parasites could have wreaked havoc on her liver. 

Schistosoma parasites can cause appendicitis, though it's unclear if the worms lead to this condition in the girl or if her appendicitis was simply a coincidence.

Schistosoma parasites mainly live in the waters around Africa, Asia, South America, the Caribbean, Middle East and parts of France. 

About 85 percent of schistosomiasis cases occur in Africa, where as much as half the population has the condition. 

The CDC states that schistosomiasis is more common in countries lacking widespread sanitation and water safety programs.

Doctors believe the girl came into contact with the parasites in rivers in Eritrea, which is one of the world's least developed countries. The worms likely laid eggs that lurked for several months. 

'Individuals with frequent exposure to freshwater in endemic areas – such as those engaged in fishing, irrigation, washing, or swimming – exhibit an increased risk of infection,' the girl's doctors wrote in the American Journal of Case Reports.  

 The arrow in the above image points to 'white spots' on the girl's liver. At least one of these was a Schistosoma parasite

Schistosomiasis is endemic to Eritrea. In the US, however, the condition is extremely rare and is almost always due to travel to or migration from endemic areas. 

Schistosomiasis is endemic to Eritrea. In the US, however, the condition is extremely rare and is almost always due to travel to or migration from endemic areas. 

In Switzerland, where the girl was treated, a recent study found 40 percent of newly arrived refugees from Eritrea tested positive for Schistosoma parasites.   

The girl received two courses of praziquantel, sold under the brand name Biltricide, to treat her schistosomiasis two weeks apart to treat adult and larval parasites. Doctors also urged her family to undergo screening and antiparasitic treatment. 

Doctors do not believe the girl will have lasting complications, though if her condition would have been left untreated, her liver could have become so enlarged that it lost function and went into failure. 

The doctors wrote: 'Taken together, these findings underscore the need for heightened clinical awareness and integrated screening in primary care as a cost-effective approach to managing schistosomiasis among migrants.'