A woman who assumed her constant nosebleeds were the result of a motorbike accident was shocked to learn that a three-inch leech that had nestled inside of her nose was the culprit.
According to the Daily Record, the nosebleeds began for 24-year-old Daniela Liverani during a backpacking expedition in Vietnam. When they continued, Liverani incorrectly assumed that they stemmed from a burst blood vessel following a fall from a motorbike. She had no idea how wrong she was.
Liverani told the Daily Record that the nosebleeds stopped, but she eventually figured out there was a leech in her nasal cavity while showering:
When I was in the shower, he would come right out as far as my bottom lip and I could see him sticking out the bottom of my nose, Liverani said. So when that happened last Thursday, I jumped out of the shower to look really closely in the mirror and I saw ridges on him. That's when I realised he was an animal.
Liverani consulted doctors, who said the leech had been in place for about a month. Worse, had she not sought medical attention, the leech could have made its way to her brain.
Someone with extensive leech knowledge told the Record that it could've made its way into Liverani's nose while she was swimming, or she could've ingested it while drinking water.
[via Daily Record and Gawker]
