7cm long leech lived in old woman's nose for nearly 2 months

(Baonghean.vn) - Nghe An General Hospital has just performed an endoscopy and removed a 7cm long leech from the nose of a 72-year-old woman.

For the past 2 months, patient Tho Thi Xa has always had the feeling that there is a living, moving, wriggling animal in her airway. However, it was not until she went to Nghe An General Hospital for examination, where the doctor performed an endoscopy and removed a 7cm long leech, that the patient and her family realized that her “feeling” was completely accurate.

Patient Tho Thi Xa (72 years old) living in Thuoi Xai 1 village, Tri Le commune, Que Phong district has the habit of using stream water from the mountain for drinking and daily activities. However, because she used the water directly without boiling it, leeches followed the water stream and lived in her body. At first, the leech was still small, she did not detect the unusual residence of the strange creature.

Patient Tho Thi Xa and the strange foreign object that lived in her nose for months.

By sucking blood and nutrients from people, the leech quickly grew and caused nasal congestion and difficulty breathing, especially at night. When she kept coughing up blood clots, her family took her to the district hospital for examination, but still could not find the exact cause. On the morning of July 27, the patient was transferred to Nghe An General Hospital and was performed an endoscopy by an ENT doctor, who removed a living foreign object, a leech that was full of blood.

The process of endoscopic removal of the living foreign body encountered many difficulties. The leech was located in the subglottis, but it moved continuously, was slippery, and had a strong blood-sucking proboscis. Combined with the patient's old and weak physical condition, the doctor had to use supportive anesthesia and check many times to find the exact location and remove the animal.

Immediately after removing the leech, patient Xa felt comfortable breathing, mentally relaxed and alert.

Endoscopic image of foreign body of patient.

It is known that the Department of Otorhinolaryngology has encountered many cases of leeches residing in the human body. The main cause of the disease is the habit of drinking stream water of people while going to the forest, going to the fields, going to the fields. Stream leeches often reproduce and live in natural stream water. Initially, they are just like hairs or very similar to normal seaweed and moss. However, when entering the human or animal body, they become very dangerous with the habit of residing in the nasal cavity, sinuses, nasal cavity, throat, trachea, lungs to suck blood, phlegm and cause discomfort in the parasitic areas, destroying the human body if not detected early.

Therefore, ethnic minorities in mountainous areas and forest goers need to give up the habit of drinking water from streams and streams. And when detecting unusual symptoms, they need to go to medical facilities immediately for examination and timely treatment.

Hoang Yen