Last Friday, a Jacksonville hospital was the scene of stomach turning incident. A patient who is remaining unidentified came to the emergency room after his face began to rapidly swell. The man said his whole face felt like it was on fire and his lips swelled so badly he could barely talk.
The man went on to explain he had been experiencing symptoms since October but it had been getting progressively worse with him having constant nose bleeds.
When he showed up at HCA Memorial Hospital in that condition the responding doctor thought he saw movement while examining his nose bleed. At this point they used a camera to have a closer look and literally couldn't believe what they were seeing.
At first glance the doctor could see dozens of bugs alive and seemingly feeding on this poor man's nose and sinus cavity. The doctor said when they feed they create excrement which in turn causes inflammation.
These were not microscopic bugs...some of the larger ones were the size of the end of the doctor's pinky. Some were moving around looking for places to feed while others had already burrowed in and were actively feeding.
They tried removing them with suction but were unsuccessful so ended up having to remove them one at a time. The patient said it was very painful as the larvae were not wanting to come out. In all, 150 live larvae were removed from his nose.
The larvae had reached all the way to the base of his skull and had they reached the brain it would have been fatal.
The patient says he has no idea how they got in there but admits he doesn't always wash his hands adequately while handling fish and that could possibly be what led to the infestation.
This was a difficult story to write and my nose is itching as I type this.
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