11-year-old boy from the USA in hand grew up and lived snail : In the World : Vladim

On opening abscesses, doctors from the U.S. found in the hand of 11-year-old boy the snail, she grew up and lived at the elbow. An article about this published on the website of BMJ Case Reports.

Doctors from Los Angeles, Stephen Wesley line and albert Khait, had a chance to learn from the hand of a child of a living shelled mollusk Littorina scutulata. The family was brought to the hospital the boy, whose elbow was swollen and red. Damage resembled abscesses, although it does not itch and do not hurt. On opening the abscess, doctors flushed it from small amount of pus and seized foreign body – dark snail with a diameter of 4 mm.

The boy confessed that he played on the ocean coast and scratched. The parents treated the wound, but she soon inflamed – from what I got there the egg of a mollusk.

The patient was prescribed antibiotics and were allowed to take the snail home. She died the next day, and the boy in a week has recovered.

Doctors were surprised that the animal survived in the human body. She believes that the reason of the vitality of the mollusk is its ability to store moisture. Online and Chait were the first who described a similar medical condition.