
Man removed 5.5-foot tapeworm from his anus and took it to the ER in a plastic bag.
Fresno docs were baffled by the unexpected visit of a sushi fan who waltzed through the emergency room carrying a 5.5-foot tapeworm. The man, who later was treated for tapeworm infection, told the ER physician that he himself pulled the tapeworm out of his anus.
Fresno Tape Worm Featured on Popular Podcast
Because a 5.5-foot tapeworm cannot go unnoticed, the case, which was recently treated at the Fresno Community Regional Medical Center, became the subject of the ‘This Won’t Hurt a Bit’ podcast. The narrator of this rather odd incident was Kenny Bahn, the ER physician who handled the case.
Bahn recalls that a Fresno resident came to the hospital’s emergency room complaining of blood in the stool. The man also asked the doctor to give him treatment for tapeworms.
However, the doctor did not honor his request, arguing who come in with this symptom believe that they have a tapeworm infection. But the man was not your regular patient, but one who brought along a compelling piece of evidence.
According to Bahn, before going into the consultation room, the patient went to the bathroom and observed that something resembling a small piece of intestine was dangling from his behind. Instead of panicking, the man grabbed the thing and yanked it out of his anus, only to find out that it was a living, breathing tapeworm.
The man simply wrapped the tapeworm around a cardboard TP tube which he then placed in a plastic bag. Bahn recalls that after telling his patient that he probably doesn’t need a deworming treatment, the patient casually opened the bag, revealing the menace.
Conclusion
Obviously, since he was the physician on call, the job of measuring and documenting the critter was Bahn’s. The patient received a deworming treatment and was sent home.
Image source: Wikipedia