Blood-sucking creature found in man’s throat after he drinks from spring, doctors say

A mobile medical team working in rural Ethiopia met a man with unexplainable bloody spit — then found an animal living in his throat, doctors said.

As doctors visited the home of a 65-year-old farmer in North Wollo, Raya Kobbo, he told them his saliva had tints of blood, occasionally bright red, according to a medical case report published March 26 in the Journal of Medical Case Reports.

“He also described experiencing a persistent foreign body sensation in his throat, which was accompanied by discomfort and a sensation of fullness in the (middle throat) area, lightheadedness and difficulty speaking,” doctors said.

The farmer was also severely anemic, a symptom of losing too much blood.

He was breathing fast and his pulse was elevated when doctors checked his vital signs, according to the report, but it was likely caused by his discomfort and something possibly obstructing his airway.

The man was asked to lay on his back, and doctors pulled out his tongue to look inside his throat.

Looking back at them was a live leech, doctors said.

Doctors grabbed the leech with forceps and carefully removed the animal, now nearly 4 inches long after feeding on the man’s blood supply for at least a week, according to the report.

The site of the leech bite was treated, and the farmer was given iron supplements to take for a month to manage his anemia, doctors said.

“Leeches are blood-sucking endoparasite segmented worms characterized by a small sucker, which contains the mouth, at the anterior end of the body, and a large sucker located at the posterior end,” doctors said. “Leeches occur primarily in fresh water and on land. Aquatic leeches may feed on the blood of fish, amphibians, birds, and mammals.”

The farmer told doctors he drank from a freshwater spring frequented by livestock a week prior, suggesting he unknowingly swallowed the leech, according to the report.

Leech infestations, or times when leeches have latched on to people, are more common in rural areas and developing countries where safe drinking water is limited, doctors said.

“Leeches have the ability to consume a blood volume nearly (10) times their body weight,” doctors said, meaning they often go unnoticed until a person experiences symptoms of blood loss.

North Wollo is in northern Ethiopia, south of Eritrea and west of Djibouti.

The medical team includes Asnake Gibrie, Molla Daniel, Tadious Lidetu and Desiyalew Habtamu.

This story was originally published March 27, 2025 at 9:58 AM with the headline "Blood-sucking creature found in man’s throat after he drinks from spring, doctors say."

Irene Wright

McClatchy DC

Irene Wright is a McClatchy Real-Time reporter. She earned a B.A. in ecology and an M.A. in health and medical journalism from the University of Georgia and is now based in Atlanta. Irene previously worked as a business reporter at The Dallas Morning News.