DOCTORS were shocked to discover maggots crawling inside a man’s penis and bladder.
The 76-year-old patient went to hospital in Nepal complaining of bloody discharge oozing from his penis.
Two years earlier, he had been diagnosed with an enlarged prostate– a common condition.
The prostate is a small gland in the pelvis between the bladder and the penis.
When the prostate becomes enlarged, it can press against the bladder and urethra – the tube that carries urine out of the body—making it difficult to pee.
In his case, published in the International Journal of Surgery Case Reports, doctors said the blockage was severe enough that he needed a catheter inserted to help him pass urine normally.
When the medics examined him, they found live maggots burrowing into an open wound near his urethra.
Writing in the journal, doctors from Tribhuwan University Teaching Hospital don’t specify how the maggots reached his penis.
However, they note that flies are attracted to “foul-smelling discharges from body openings,” where they lay their eggs. These eggs then hatch into maggots.
And the said that his wife had been taking care of his personal hygeine.
Even more disturbing, some baby maggots, called larvae, were spotted wriggling through his urethra, raising fears they had made their way into his bladder.
A cystoscopy, where a doctor uses a camera to examine the urinary tract, confirmed their worst suspicions – the tiny parasites had invaded his bladder.
The condition, known as urogenital myiasis, happens when flies lay eggs in open cuts or moist areas.
It most commonly happens to patients with poor hygiene or mobility issues.
The man, who had suffered a stroke and was dependent on his wife to keep him clean, was an easy target.
Doctors immediately set to work, using turpentine oil to force the maggots to surface before manually removing them.
His bladder was flushed with saline solution, and he was given a dose of ivermectin, a drug used to kill parasites.
‘Uncommon and alarming’
After an 11-day hospital stay, the patient was discharged with a clean bill of health.
A follow-up cystoscopy confirmed no remaining larvae, and he later underwent circumcision to reduce the risk of further infections.
Doctors treating the man wrote: “The discovery of maggots in both the penis and urinary bladder is an uncommon and alarming occurrence.”
They said urogenital myiasis in the penis is not uncommon, but “infestation of bladder is very rare, and it indicates the severe and invasive nature of the disease”.
Bizarre medical cases reports... involving penises
From a man who got 'food poisoning' in his penis, to another whose scrotum swelled to the size of a beach ball, here's a round up of medical case reports involving todgers
- A man was forced to have his penis amputated after developing gangrene following “excessive alcohol consumption”
- Doctors found bacteria that tends to cause food poisoning… in a man’s penis
- A man had to have part of his penis amputated after a sex toy “strangled” his member and left it blackened and gangrenous
- A man’s scrotum ballooned to the size of a beach ball over a decade, hanging “below his knees”
- A man’s rotted from the inside after he inserted three button batteries into his urethra