Leech worms way into hiker’s nose
‘Slimy and mobile’ creature difficult to remove
Updated: 1:27 a.m. ET April 8, 2005

HONG KONG - A Hong Kong hiker washed her face in a freshwater stream, not noticing that a leech had wormed its way into one of her nostrils, according to the Hong Kong Medical Journal.

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Unaware she was playing host to the creature, the 55-year-old woman only consulted a doctor when her nose started bleeding intermittently about two weeks later.

The unusual case occurred in 2003 but doctors highlighted it in this month’s edition of the journal, where they discussed how to remove live leeches from human nasal passages using anaesthesia.

The first doctor the woman saw could not find anything wrong and it was only when she visited a second doctor that he saw the five-centimeter (two-inch) leech peeking out of her left nostril.

According to the article, doctors only managed to remove the stubborn bloodsucker with forceps after applying anaesthesia to the woman’s nose.

“Direct removal of a live leech might be difficult because of its powerful attachment to the mucosa and its slimy and mobile body,” the journal said.

source

Duuuuuuuuuude...oh.my.god. *shudder*heebiejeebies*

i almost posted this earlier but it was too disgusting.

If you snort Vivarin you get kickass yellow boogers.

All I can say is, EWWW!! I am so grossed out. And if I were that woman, I would be freaking out so badly right now. Hell, I've never had a cavity. I can't imagine being calm and collected while a doctor was removing a 5 cm. leech from my nose. Wouldn't happen.

i'm never snorting jungle drugs again

Saw a nasty thing on Dateline or something of the like last night in which a little girl and her family were on vacation in Belize...She got bit by some mosquitos and they transferred fly larve into her...The flys grew under her skin and almost hatched...She had them removed at the emergency room....

And I thought the only thing you had to watch out for was not to drink the water.....

I thought this was going to be a thread about Three times one minus one, damn.

I'm pretty sure that first doctor should go back to school for awhile.

The candirú or canero (Vandellia cirrhosa) is a freshwater fish in the group commonly called the catfishes. It is found in the Amazon River and has a reputation among the natives as the most feared fish in its waters, even over the piranha. The species grows only to a size of an inch in length and is eel shaped and translucent, making it almost impossible to see in the water. The candiru is a parasite. It swims into the gill cavities of other fishes, erects a spine to hold itself in place, and feeds on the blood in the gills, earning it a nickname as the "vampire fish of Brazil".

It is feared by the natives because it is attracted to urine or blood, and if the bather is nude it will swim into an orifice (the anus, vagina or even—in the case of the smaller specimens—the penis and deeper through the urethra). It then erects its spine and begins to feed on the blood and body tissue just as it would from the gills of a fish. The candiru is then almost impossible to remove except through an operation, usually involving the amputation of the area.

A more expensive option is the use of two plants, the Xagua plant (Genipa americana) and the Buitach apple which are inserted (or their extract in the case of tight spaces) into the affected area. These two plants together will kill and then dissolve the fish. More often, the pain causes shock and death in the victim before it can be removed

couldn't she have just snorted some salt or something?

but did they save the leech?????

I've heard of these things. Seriously, they could be the scariest things in existence.

Note to self: Cancel next years boat trip through the Amazon.

OK, OK, now, its true, we do have Bot flies here in Belize, but they are very rare (think steak, hehehe),
this may help ...or maybe not.
I have been here over four years and have never known anyone that has been infected by a bot fly.

[quote="konstantinl"]

my girlfriend works in a museum and constantly sends me pictures of one of these things. Well, the corpse of one, anyway. It doesn't make me feel any less squeamish. At least now I can send her pictures of seriously deformed people. circle of life.

This thread has me thinking of Walter Koenig and Paul Winfield getting those leech things stuck in their ears in Star Trek 2.

What about AIDS, dOOdz?

Should I bang your girl, and proceed to have her infect you? 'Cause, it can't be that scary, 'uh?

... And, what about ebola, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and water-born parasites that burrow into the pores and take over the intestine (not tape-worms, but something like 'em)?

Seriously... There is worse.

This exact same thing happened to a girl in Silverlake once...
She wasn't all that concerned with the leech living in her nose until it started hogging all her coke..

...and you do not want to hear a leech talk sh*t continuously for hours!

oh jesus christ...