Affiliations 

  • 1 MMed-ORL-HNS (USM), Health & Wellbeing (HW) Core, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia E-mail: nazlizainuddin@yahoo.com
  • 2 (MD), Department of Otolaryngology, Hospital Sungai Buloh, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 3 MMed ORL (UM), Department of Otolaryngology, Hospital Sungai Buloh, Selangor, Malaysia
Malays Fam Physician, 2016;11(2-3):33-34.
PMID: 28461857

Abstract

Leech is an uncommon nasal foreign body, which can cause epistaxis. It is an aquatic segmental worm living in fresh water most commonly in tropical areas. Once it is attached in the nose, it will secrete an anticoagulant enzyme named hirudin, and that will result in continuous bleeding more than from a normal wound even after it is removed. We present a case of a live leech in the nose that caused unilateral epistaxis in a patient with a recent history of jungle trekking.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.