It's a scene the staff at HCA Florida Memorial Hospital in Jacksonville, USA, are unlikely to forget. In early February 2024, a man went to the emergency room with facial inflammation and intense pain. And it took several months before the patient decided to go to hospital. In fact, his symptoms began to appear last October. He explained to First Coast News, quoted by the HuffPost:
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Within hours, my face began to swell, my lips swelled, I could barely speak or breathe.
150 larvae trapped
But when the ENT specialist began to examine the man, he soon realized that he actually had several dozen insect larvae stuck in his nose. The larvae had nibbled away at the nasal wall and had made their way up to the eye. Dr. David Carlson explains:
They were right up against the base of his skull, just under the brain.
He also points out that if the patient had waited any longer to see a doctor, the worms would have attacked his brain and killed him.
The ENT specialist on duty was forced to remove the tiny insects by hand from the man's nose. In all, some 150 larvae were trapped in the patient's nasal septum. According to the doctor, this infestation could be due to a lack of hygiene. Indeed, the American admitted to regularly handling dead fish. He said:
I used to rinse my hands in the river, but now I use a cleanser and don't touch my nose or hands.
A first in over 50 years
Although the cause of the presence of these insects in his nose is undoubtedly due to the patient's lack of hygiene, it has not been confirmed. The larvae removed have been sent to a laboratory to determine their origin and species. On its Facebook account, HCA Florida Memorial Hospital asserts that it has never been confronted with this type of situation in the 55 years since the establishment of the health facility.
This article has been translated from Gentside FR.
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Sources used:
Huffpost: Doctors Remove 150 Live Bugs From Florida Man's Nose
