A Refreshing Mountain Rinse Left This Man With a Nose Leech and Days of Bleeding

A 38-year-old man’s chronic nosebleeds had a particularly blood-curdling cause. In a recent case report, doctors in China described how a man developed a leech stuck in his nose.

Doctors at the First Hospital of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine detailed the real-life vampire story this week in New England Journal of Medicinecomplete with a close-up of the vampire. It is likely that the man was infected by the curious perpetrator after he splashed his face with mountain spring water. Fortunately, doctors were able to remove the leech without any lasting complications.

Mountain danger

According to the report, the man visited the ear, nose and throat clinic 10 days after suffering a bleed in his right nose.

The man’s nose was bleeding a few drops every hour, and he was producing “blood-tinged” mucus whenever he spit or coughed. A physical examination by doctors confirmed bleeding in the right nostril, and endoscopy quickly revealed the cause of the leeching. To add to the horror, the leech was still alive when it was discovered, as it was trying to evade the light of the scope.

Most leech species live in freshwater, and this is likely where the man caught his parasite. Twenty days before his visit to the doctors, he had gone mountain climbing. At some point, he washed his face with spring water, and somehow, the leech must have engulfed his nose and held on for dear life, according to the report.

Doctors have noted that nosebleeds can be caused by many things, including foreign bodies and tumors (benign or not). They added, with complete and clear sincerity, that leeches were at the bottom of the list of usual suspects, even though no one had heard of them.

“Nasal leeching is an uncommon cause, with swimming in stagnant water, bathing, or drinking untreated natural water being risk factors,” they wrote.

Happy ending

Although the prospect of nasal leech is terrifying, doctors have easily treated the situation.

They gave the man local anesthesia and used a suction catheter to pull the blood-sucking creature from the man’s nose, completely intact. The procedure went smoothly, without any negative effects. At a follow-up visit a week later, the man and his nose showed no “residual symptoms.”

I assume the doctors meant that he had no lasting physical symptoms. Because personally, if I found myself with a nose leech, I don’t know that I would ever be able to swim or use any body of natural fresh water again. On the other hand, it could have been worse; At least he didn’t end up with a spider or tick crawling into his ear. You know? Just to ease my paranoia, I’ll consider buying some comfortable nose and ear plugs.