Many children bathing in streams have leeches crawling into their airways.

The Central Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital received many children with leeches that crawled into and parasitized their ears, noses and throats, then went down their airways after bathing in streams. Some children came to the hospital coughing up fresh blood, feeling like something was crawling in their throats.

According to the Central Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital, the most recent child hospitalized due to a dangerous living foreign body in the airway is Song AL (3 years old, in Phu Yen, Son La ). About 2 weeks before being hospitalized, he went to bathe in a stream with his brother, then a few days later he had intermittent coughing fits, spitting up fresh blood, occasional hoarseness with wheezing and a feeling like something was crawling in his throat.

The family took the child to a local medical facility, where doctors suspected the child had a foreign body in the trachea and transferred him to the Central Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital for further examination and treatment.

Pediatric endoscopy.

According to Dr. Nguyen Thi Hue - Department of Plastic Surgery, Central Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital, the child patient was determined to have a foreign object, a live leech, attached to the trachea.

Doctors performed anesthesia and performed a rigid endotracheal endoscopy to remove the foreign object from the child. The foreign object removed was a live leech about 5cm long. "A live leech sucks blood, causing damage to the respiratory tract, stimulating respiratory secretions, causing many bacteria, respiratory infections, bronchitis, and pneumonia. If the leech moves deep into the lungs, it can cause collapsed lungs, recurrent pneumonia, etc. If it moves up to the nose, it can cause intermittent nosebleeds," said Dr. Hue.

Another case is Trieu AC (12 years old, in Van Chan, Yen Bai ) who was hospitalized with repeated coughing and phlegm mixed with blood. A month before, he also bathed and drank stream water. Doctors examined and diagnosed the child with a leech and then performed a laryngoscopy to remove the foreign object.

The doctor removed a 5cm long live leech from the child's trachea.

MSc. Dr. Do Van Tam - who directly treated the child shared: If not detected and treated promptly, foreign objects in the airway can cause many dangerous complications, especially "living" foreign objects can grow large in size, causing airway obstruction. When leeches first enter the body through the mouth (oral route), they are usually small in size, but when parasitizing in the body for a short time, they will grow rapidly. The increasing size of leeches can cause airway obstruction, leading to suffocation and death.

To avoid getting the dangerous foreign objects mentioned above, Dr. Tam recommends that parents avoid letting their children bathe in streams, ponds, lakes, rivers, and streams, and especially not drink water from streams or streams that has not been boiled. If children go swimming, they should go to a pool with treated water and be supervised by an adult. When there are signs of nosebleeds, hoarse crying, hoarse speech, wheezing, difficulty breathing, feeling like something is crawling in the nose, throat, etc., they should immediately go to a reputable medical facility for examination and timely treatment to avoid unfortunate complications later.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/y-te/nhieu-tre-em-tam-suoi-bi-dia-chui-vao-duong-tho-i768312/