There is one woman in Australia who will now think twice before casually flinging garden soil around the next time she is in her backyard.
For in that soil, there once was a leech that promptly found its way onto her cornea and under her eyelid to imbibe from the richly vascularized eye. What started out as about a mere quarter inch, grew into about a three quarter inch, as it suckled the blood from the globe.
Creative removal by emergency room doctors was in order, as indelicate removal could lead to embedded leech parts and subsequent infection. Topical anesthetic was actually unsuccessful, allowing the leech to continue its merry feast. A few drops of 3 per cent saline solution was ultimately successful in getting the ornery creature to release. A rather simple and previously unreported method.
The woman recovered uneventfully. Her experience contributed to the annals of emergency medicine. And to the millions of humans rather petrified at the mere notion that a slimy toothed creature could have found comfort in a most unusual locale.
More at ABC.net.au, Stuff.co.nz, and Encyclopedia 2.
Image courtesy of http://www.csulb.edu/~galt/Bb5/Leech-Eye-1.gif.
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