jaboobie
04-08-2005, 11:32
HONG KONG (AFP) (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1516&ncid=1516&e=1&u=/afp/20050408/od_afp/healthhongkongleech_050408113104) - A Hong Kong woman hiker who washed her face in a freshwater stream unwittingly returned home with a leech embedded in her left nostril.
http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20050408/thumb.sge.fdb83.080405113057.photo00.photo.default-384x256.jpg (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050408/photos_od_afp/050408113104_34nrhst1_photo0)
AFP/File Photo (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050408/photos_od_afp/050408113104_34nrhst1_photo0)
The woman did not realise anything was wrong until two weeks later when she felt there was something in her nose, the Hong Kong Medical Journal reported in its April edition.
A first attempt by the family doctor to remove it failed due to profuse nosebleed while a second attempt in hospital was also unsuccessful as the leech retracted into her nose, the journal said in its report on the rare complaint.
Doctors finally managed to remove it using a nasal spray to anaesthetise the five-centimetre-long (two-inch) bloodsucker a month after it had invaded her nostril.
"After two minutes, the leech slowly moved out of the antrum (sinus) and was retrieved with forceps," it said.
http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20050408/thumb.sge.fdb83.080405113057.photo00.photo.default-384x256.jpg (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050408/photos_od_afp/050408113104_34nrhst1_photo0)
AFP/File Photo (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050408/photos_od_afp/050408113104_34nrhst1_photo0)
The woman did not realise anything was wrong until two weeks later when she felt there was something in her nose, the Hong Kong Medical Journal reported in its April edition.
A first attempt by the family doctor to remove it failed due to profuse nosebleed while a second attempt in hospital was also unsuccessful as the leech retracted into her nose, the journal said in its report on the rare complaint.
Doctors finally managed to remove it using a nasal spray to anaesthetise the five-centimetre-long (two-inch) bloodsucker a month after it had invaded her nostril.
"After two minutes, the leech slowly moved out of the antrum (sinus) and was retrieved with forceps," it said.