VietNamNet Bridge –
Doctors of the Central Pediatrics Hospital have saved the life of a 11-year-old boy from two strange blood-sucking parasites in his lung.
On October 20, the child, Dinh Thanh Long in northern Hai Duong City, suddenly coughed up blood (around 10-15ml) and showed respiratory problems. His parents immediately brought him to the General Hospital of Hai Duong City.
Doctors there didn’t find the problem so the boy was transferred to the Central Pediatrics Hospital on October 22. However, after performing exams and scanning, doctors could not find out the reason either.
There are two common reasons that make children cough up blood, but in the case of Long, they were not the reasons.
On October 25, Dr. Dao Minh Tuan, Head of the Respiration Department decided to conduct laparoscopy of the boy’s bronchus. This technique helped doctors to find out a transparent creature which contained blood inside, which was attached into the bronchus to bleed it.
After anaesthetizing, doctors took off the parasite, which is 2.3cm length and 3.4mm width, looking like an aquatic creature, with a tail and head.
According to Dr. Tuan, if the parasite was not quickly taken out, the boy would have died of bleeding. However, he doesn’t know what the parasite is. “In my nearly 30 years working as a doctor, I have never seen any cases like this,” he said.
The second parasite
On October 28, the boy continued to cough up blood and doctors found out one more parasite in his lung on the next day.
This parasite is similar to the first one but it was more difficult to take it out. After over six hours, finally doctors killed the parasite and took out the creature.
They decided to continue watch up the boy because “nobody is sure that there are no other parasites in his body now,” Dr. Tuan said.
The parasites were sent to scientists for research. Meanwhile, doctors are trying to answer the question: how did the parasites get into the boy’s lung.