8-Year-Old Vomits Worms For A Month Before Specialist Doctor Figures Out Why
It was an unlikely culprit.
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An 8-year-old girl in China spent an entire month vomiting live worms before doctors finally uncovered the shocking cause
According to South China Morning Post, the girl, from Yangzhou City in eastern China, had been throwing up what her father described as "a handful of 1cm-long worms" each time.
While her family showed no symptoms, the child's condition left doctors stumped.
The cause was finally identified when a specialist at the Children's Hospital of Soochow University stepped in.
Dr Zhang Bingbing suspected something unusual and sent the worms for analysis
Disease control officers quickly recognised them as the larvae of drain flies, also known as moth flies — insects that thrive in damp, humid environments.
It was likely that the family's underground water supply had been contaminated.
"When the child brushes her teeth or flushes the toilet, the worms might enter her system through splashes of water," explained Xu Yuhui, a department chief at the Yangzhou Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
While the larvae don't transmit diseases through the bloodstream, they can cause serious issues if ingested
Xu also warned against squashing the flies with bare hands.
"The bacteria they carry might remain on the hand and enter a person's body when they use their hands to rub their eyes."
Experts recommend pouring boiling water mixed with salt and baking soda down drains to kill the larvae. The most effective long-term solution, however, is to keep bathrooms and kitchens clean and dry.
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