The case of a little Moroccan girl whose throat was inhabited by a leech is not isolated. Doctors go from surprise to surprise.
In Morocco, a 6-year-old girl was transferred to the otolaryngology department of Ibn Rochd hospital in Casablanca. She presented to the facility because of severe difficulty breathing and discharge of blood through her mouth.
Without hesitation, the medical team performed a nasofibroscopy. This examination makes it possible to have an overview of the oral cavity, the soft palate and the larynx. The practitioners were then surprised to discover a large six-centimeter leech stuck in the little girl’s throat.
Precedents
As astonishing as the case may seem, it is not a first. Indeed, the leech seems to appreciate the human body where it readily lodges. A similar story unfolded in China, where a child was also victimized. An 11-year-old boy recently presented to the hospital with tingling throat, pain, dizziness and even fainting.
The X-ray of his chest revealed the presence of the foreign body: a beautiful leech, full of life, seven centimeters in length. “The boy swallowed a leech larva that lodged in his airways,” said a spokesperson for the facility. It is likely that in order to get air, the leech migrated from its esophagus to its throat. Every time she curled up, she blocked her airways and made her pass out ”.
A cricket in the ear
More recently, an Indian with an itchy ear came to the hospital. No leech this time, but a cricket that had taken shelter in his ear canal. The insect was removed from its home using forceps and even survived the operation. Last January, a young Australian man was the victim of a cockroach invasion in his ear.
And then there are the worms, which are also crazy about our body. In India, 150 intestinal worms, measuring 25 cm on average, were thus extracted from the digestive tract of a woman. For over a month she had suffered from severe stomach pains and vomiting. The parasites were probably ingested with water and reproduced in this human habitat.
A little earlier, a larva had taken up residence behind the eye of a young Peruvian man. To extract it, it was necessary to be cunning and bait the parasite with a basil leaf …
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