Subject: Woman finds 3-inch (8 cm) Leech up her Nose
From: Alex Kemp
Date: Monday, 13 October 2014 16:28:16 +0100
To: Micaela Kemp, Liisa Kemp, Davin Kemp

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-29595164


Daniela Liverani, 24 + former intimate companion Mr. Curly

There’s not really much more that needs to be said, is there? Oh, OK then...

Daniela Liverani, 24, from Edinburgh, Scotland went back-packing a month ago in Vietnam and Cambodia and, with hindsight, believes that she picked up a leech whilst there, which she subsequently brought back in her nose.

Definition of ‘Leech’:- an aquatic or terrestrial annelid worm with suckers at both ends. Many species are bloodsucking parasites, especially of vertebrates, and others are predators.

(one of the characteristics of leeches is that they will cause zero pain when they bite through the skin into a vein, plus they contain chemicals in their saliva that prevent blood from clotting. One piece of common advice is to use a lit cigarette to cause it to detach from the skin - modern medical advice is strongly against using that method, as it will cause the leech to ‘retch’ into the wound, which then may well cause contamination & infection. If the leech is upon the open skin, then the advice is to simply wait; it will be sated in a couple of minutes, will then relax & drop off)

Daniela thought that she had a blot clot in her nose (she had been having nose-bleeds, but ascribed them to a burst blood vessel from a motorbike crash). She did go to the doctor, who told her “come back if they continue” (what a prat).

Things came to a conclusion last Thursday, 9 October 2014. She was having a shower when she decided to investigate closer:-

(When having a shower) obviously my nasal passages would open up because of the steam and the heat and the water, and it would come out quite far, about as far as my lip. So I could kind of see it out of the corner of my eye but still didn’t think it was a worm because it just looked like a blood clot.

On Thursday I jumped out the shower and I unsteamed the mirror and I had a proper good look, and I could see little ridges on him.

Daniela went to Accident & Emergency. The nurses were very phlegmatic at first, but Daniela knew that she had done the right thing when the nurse began to shout & scream with disgust, having shone a light up her nose.

Daniela nicknamed the leech “Mr. Curly”. Getting Mr. Curly out of her nose was a touch traumatic. The doctors first placed forceps into her nose, and then deployed a pair of pliers to extract it!

Daniela then took Mr Curly home for the night, at the doctors’ suggestion. “He’s in an Edinburgh City Council bin,” said Daniela. “He’s probably long gone by now. I boiled him first.”

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Alex Kemp