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Laryngeal hirudiniasis: An unusual cause of airway obstruction and hemoptysis
Author(s) -
Mohammad Yousser,
Rostum M.,
Dubaybo Basim A.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
pediatric pulmonology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.866
H-Index - 106
eISSN - 1099-0496
pISSN - 8755-6863
DOI - 10.1002/ppul.10065
Subject(s) - medicine , foreign body aspiration , leech , airway obstruction , foreign body , airway , asthma , surgery , pediatrics , larynx , world wide web , computer science
Cases of childhood hemoptysis are rare and usually result from foreign body aspiration or congenital heart or lung diseases. However, human hirudiniasis due to the leech still exists, and could involve the upper airways after drinking infested water from quiet streams and pools. We report the case of a 6‐year‐old child who presented suffocating at the emergency room after having been misdiagnosed and treated for asthma over a 1‐month period. His mother reported he had had recurrent hemoptysis, as well. The child inadvertently drank leech‐infested water in a rural area of northern Syria. Surgical removal of the leech resulted in prompt resolution of the symptoms. Although laryngeal hirudiniasis is rare in the developed world, it remains a possible cause of childhood airway obstruction, hemoptysis, and anemia which needs to be considered in patients with a suggestive history. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2002; 33:224–226. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.