A man in China was horrified to discover that the cause of his non-stop coughing was two live leeches struck to his throat and nostril. According to Daily Mail, the 60-year-old patient, who has not been named, spent two months with the leeches inside his body. It was only when his cough got unbearable that he decided to seek treatment and found the parasitic worms in his nostril and throat.
Last Friday, the man from Xingwen County went to seek medical attention for his incessant coughing. He told doctors at Wuping County Hospital in Longyan that he had coughed up phlegm and blood.
While an initial CT scan did not show anything unusual, doctors later performed a bronchoscopy that revealed two live leeches inside him. Apple Daily News reports that one leech was found in his right nostril, while the other was found stuck below his glottis.
Dr Rao Guanyong removed the leeches, about 10 centimeters long, with a pair of tweezers after giving local anaesthesia to the patient.
It is believed that the man, who often worked in the wild, contracted the leeches without realising while drinking water from mountain streams.
"When he drank with water [containing the leeches], it was likely that they were very small and undetectable by the naked eye. In the past month or two, the leeches have sucked the patient's blood and grown," Dr Rao said, according to Daily Mail.
The patient is now recovering.
Just a few days ago, a man in China received a huge shock on discovering a family of cockroaches living in his ear.
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