A LEECH IN THE THROAT, AND A TAPEWORM IN THE BRAIN

A 53-year-old Vietnamese man came down with a scratchy voice and a sore throat. He thought he was getting sick. Then he started spitting blood. He went to a doctor in Hanoi who discovered the man had a 2-inch-long leech attached to his throat near his trachea. How did it get there? The man told doctors that he had sustained an injury to his hand, so he went out and picked some medicinal plants, put them in his mouth, and chewed them into a paste that he applied to his wound. Doctors believe a tiny leech was in those leaves.
* Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Cool!
* Treating a wound by picking and chewing medicinal leaves. Man, they gotta get some Walmarts in Vietnam.
* Look I know this is gross, but don’t complain or I’ll have to tell you about the man with the tapeworm in his brain. Oh, you’re gonna complain? OK. OK. You asked for it. I don’t want to do this but you’re making me. Here’s the story about the man with the tapeworm in his brain:
The latest issue of American Journal of Case Reports says an Orlando, Florida, man who went to doctors complaining of persistent migraines was found to have a tapeworm in his brain. The unnamed patient, 52, was suffering chronic headaches for four months. Scans showed multiple cysts in both hemispheres of his brain, as well as swelling. Experts confirmed was the result of a pork tapeworm that had laid eggs in his brain. It’s believed that he contracted the illness from eating undercooked bacon after the patient told doctors about his “preference for soft bacon.”
* Did he also have a preference for eating it through his nose?
* Folks, if you’re going undercook bacon so it stays soft, first soak it in turpentine for an hour.
* How do you remove a tapeworm from somebody’s brain? Tempt it out by putting candy in his ears?
* There’s a good reason for eating nothing but ultra-processed foods, you know. Chips and soda, pretty safe.
* The diversity of life on earth. Always an adventure.