A Chinese man had non-stop coughing for 2 months, and after seeking medical help, he found out that there were 2 live leeches living in one of his nostrils and throat.
The incident reportedly happened at the Wuping County Hospital in the city of Longyan, south-eastern China’s Fujian Province.
The patient, whose identity was not shared with the public, went to the hospital after coughing non-stop for 2 months.
According to reports, the man coughed phlegm and blood for 2 months.
The man went to the Wuping County Hospital and doctors in the respiratory department asked him to go through CT scan.
The scans did not show anything unusual, but the bronchoscopy showed something that they were not expecting.
Live images of the bronchoscopy showed 2 live leeches living inside the body of the man.
1 was found living in his right nostril and the second one was living below his glottis, a part of the larynx.
Dr. Rao Guanyong, the director of the hospital’s respiratory department, gave local anesthesia to the patent before removing the leeches with a pair of tweezers.
Footage showed the worms sticking inside the man.
During a press release, the hospital said that the man was working in the wild.
Dr. Rao believes that the man drank dirty water, which may have consisted of the leeches, from mountain streams.
During the press release, Dr. Rao said, “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.”
The patient is now recovering from the minor surgery that he got.