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From a man with green piddle to a teen with a sewing tholepin in his heart , a number of intriguing medical eccentric caught our middle this class .
These " case report , " which describe the conditions of item-by-item patients , do n’t usually have the type of blanket implication that are seen in strict scientific subject area with M of participant . But they can sometimes help doctors better interpret rare diseases or spot unusual preindication of usual condition . Here are 10 of the strangest case reports Live Science traverse in 2020 .
Green urine
Having yourpee turn greencan be shuddery . But as a man in Chicago find out , gullible pee can be a rare side result of some medications .
The 62 - year - old man was hospitalise after he was found to have high levels of carbon dioxide in his stemma , a term that can be life threaten . The man was placed on a ventilator and give a universal anaesthetic called propofol , consort to a report of the character , published Dec. 2 inThe New England Journal of Medicine . Five day later , the humanity ’s urine , which was being roll up in a catheter purse , turned greenish .
While gullible urine can be due to a number of factors , in this case , the perpetrator was propofol . This medicine is wide used for oecumenical anesthesia , but in rare cases , it can reverse a person ’s urine green .
Fortunately , this discolouration is benign and goes away once the medicine is stopped . Indeed , the human being ’s urine returned to a normal people of color once he was taken off propofol , the report pronounce .
Cold allergy
People can develop allergies to pretty much anything , include frigid zephyr . That was the type for a man in Colorado , whoseallergic reaction to the coldwas so wicked , he almost pall .
The 34 - class - old old man collapsed after he step out of a red-hot rain shower into a frigid bathroom , harmonize to a report of the type published Oct. 27 inThe Journal of Emergency Medicine . The man was struggle to breathe and his skin was covered in beehive . He was experiencing a life - threatening , whole - body allergic response known as anaphylaxis .
Doctors diagnose him with insensate urticaria , an allergic chemical reaction of the skin after vulnerability to cold temperatures , including insensate air or cold water . The most common symptom is a red , fidgety blizzard ( hives ) after exposure to the stale ; but in more serious case , people can develop anaphylaxis , which can make their stock pressure to plummet and air passage to constrict , making ventilation hard .
The military personnel was treated with an antihistamine and sex hormone , and his term meliorate . He was dictate an epinephrine auto - injector , which can treat anaphylaxis in emergency place .
Lethal licorice
It is possible to overdose on confect , at least if you ’re eating black liquorice . That ’s because it bear a chemical compound live to be toxic in large doses . In an extreme pillowcase of this happening , a man in Massachusetts died aftereating too much black licorice .
The 54 - class - old man suddenly lose consciousness after experience a lifespan - threatening heart rhythm job , according to a report of the slip , published Sept. 23 inThe New England Journal of Medicine . His family aver that the man had a pitiable dieting , and in late weeks , he had go through one to two with child packages of black licorice every day . Despite receive multiple treatings in the intensive guardianship building block , the man died 32 hours after arriving at the infirmary , the news report enounce .
disastrous licorice often contains a compound called glycyrrhizin , which is derived from licorice etymon , according to the Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) . use up too much licorice antecedent or candies flavor with licorice root can be dangerous because glycyrrhizin turn down the body ’s atomic number 19 stage . This , in turn , can lead to high lineage press and abnormal heart rhythm .
The FDA says that eat just 2 ounces of mordant liquorice a twenty-four hour period for two weeks can cause heart rhythm trouble , in particular for multitude ages 40 and erstwhile .
Pierced heart
A stripling ’s chest painful sensation had a surprising grounds — there was asewing pin in his mettle .
The 17 - year - sure-enough went to the emergency way after he go through a penetrating pain in his chest that radiated to his back , according to a report of the casing , published July 29 inThe Journal of Emergency Medicine . A CT scan of his chest express there was an " linear metallic alien " physical object file in his heart , the report said .
That aim turned out to be a 1.4 - column inch ( 3.5 centimetre ) sewing pin tumbler , which doctors take through undetermined - fondness surgery .
The teenager initially enjoin the doctors he had n’t ingested any foreign objects or experienced physical trauma to his bureau . But in a later interview , he revealed that he sew his clothes and sometimes holds stitchery peg in his back talk . Still , he tell he was n’t mindful of ingesting a sewing pin .
Foreign consistence in the heart are rare , especially in children and teens . as luck would have it , the teen recoup after his surgical process and had no complication as far as the writer are aware , they said .
Bladder brewery
Awoman ’s vesica turned into a breweryof sort when it started sour sugar into alcoholic drink .
The 61 - year - previous woman involve a liver transplant because she had cirrhosis , or scarring of the liver . But her doctor were puzzled when her urine repeatedly tested positive for inebriant , even though she denied drinking , according to a report of the case , published Feb. 24 in the journalAnnals of Internal Medicine .
After some careful sleuthing , doctors discovered that microbes in the cleaning lady ’s bladder were fermenting glucose ( sugar ) into alcohol .
The womanhood ’s condition is similar to a rare disorder called " machine - brewery syndrome " ( ABS ) , in which microbes in the GI tract convert carbohydrates into inebriant . mass with ABS can get drunk just from wipe out carbs , Live Science antecedently reported . But in the woman ’s case , the fermentation was taking place in her bladder , which pee her term discrete from ABS , the write up said . In her case , the alcohol did n’t get from the bladder into the bloodstream , so the womanhood did n’t appear intoxicated .
The woman ’s condition was so rare that it did n’t even have a name yet . Her Doctor of the Church proposed call it " urinary auto - brewery syndrome " or " vesica fermentation syndrome . "
Wandering spleen
Although your head may wander from time to time , you unremarkably gestate your strong-arm organs to stay in the same smear inside your trunk . But that ’s not always the pillowcase , as a woman in Michigan found when her spleen traveled a whole animal foot inside her body over 48 hours .
The cleaning lady had a rarified condition known as " wandering short temper , " which happens when the ligaments that keep the short temper in its common spot become faded and countenance the pipe organ to migrate inside the body .
CT scan of the woman ’s abdominal cavity use up just two days aside show that her irascibility had travel from the upper left-hand quadrant of her belly to the down in the mouth right quadrant , according to a written report of the case published Nov. 19 inThe New England Journal of Medicine . That ’s about a 1 - foot ( 0.3 meters ) distance , the authors read .
The adult female had a liver consideration that resulted in her spleen drive larger , which in bout do the ligament surrounding her spleen to adulterate out . The typical treatment for wander spleen is remotion of the spleen . But in this vitrine , the woman was hoping to find a liver transplanting , and undergoing a disjoined surgery to remove her spleen could result in tortuousness that would preclude her from qualifying for a Modern liver . So doc decided to look , and design to remove the spleen at the same time as her liver transplant surgery .
Persistent coronavirus
hoi polloi with COVID-19 are typically transmissible for about eight days after they contract the contagion . But a fair sex in Washington stateshed infectious virus particle for a track record 70 mean solar day , have in mind she was contagious during that intact clip . However , she never present symptom of the disease , according to a paper of the case , published Nov. 4 in the journalCell .
The 71 - yr - old womanhood had a type of leucaemia , or cancer of the white blood cells , and so her immune system was weakened and less able to clear her body of the new coronavirus , fuck as SARS - CoV-2 .
The woman was taint in late February during the country ’s first reported COVID-19 eruption , which occurred at the Life Care Center rehabilitation facility in Kirkland , Washington . Over a flow of 15 weeks , the womanhood would be tested for COVID-19 more than a twelve fourth dimension . The virus was notice in her upper respiratory tract for 105 day ; and infectious virus particle — meaning they were equal to of spreading the disease — were detected for at least 70 days .
finally , the woman was able to empty the virus , although doctors do n’t have it off how this happened . The finding hint that immunocompromised patients with COVID-19 may be communicable for much long period than distinctive .
Three kidneys
A military personnel in Brazil surprise his doctors when a scan showed he had not two , butthree kidneys — a very rarified condition .
The 38 - year - old man initially sought medical precaution for grievous back painfulness , according to a report of the case , published May 6 inThe New England Journal of Medicine . A CT CAT scan showed that his back pain was due to a herniated or " slipped " disc , a comparatively common term in which part of a cushion - alike disk between the spinal vertebra moves out of place .
But his doctors could n’t help but notice that the man had an strange anatomic feature . Instead of the common two kidneys seen in a distinctive individual , the man had three : a normal - looking kidney on his left side and two fused kidney located near the pelvis , the report state .
take in three kidneys is uncommon , with fewer than 100 cases report in the aesculapian literature . The condition is guess to arise during embryonic exploitation , when a social organization that typically forms a exclusive kidney splits in two . The man did n’t want any aesculapian tending for his extra kidney , but he did receive oral painkillers for his back pain , the report said .
Hot tub lung
So - calledhot tub lungis a rare condition stimulate by bacteria that can expand in warm urine . But it ’s not always linked to raging tub , as a teenager in Australia regain when he contracted the disease from his indoor swimming pool .
The teen developed dangerous breathing difficultness that sent him to the hand brake room , according to a report of the case , published Nov. 11 in the journalRespirology Case Reports . Prior to his hospitalization insurance , the teen had been recover from ankle joint surgery and spent most of his meter in his home ’s media room , which was next to their indoor swimming pool .
He was diagnose with hot tub lung , a disease that can occur when the great unwashed inspire certain aerosolized bacteria that belong to to the genusMycobacterium , includingMycobacterium avium .
An analysis of the pool water from the teen ’s household found that it was contaminated with this bacterium . The family say that they had recently switched the sanitizer they used for their pool , from chlorine to a non - chlorine alternative , and this allowed the bacteria to grow .
Several other people in the teenager ’s phratry developed respiratory problem , also in all probability due to hot tub lung . Two years later , the kinsperson had retrieve but their lungs still showed signs of modest legal injury from the illness .
Calcified stone
A woman who travel to the emergency room for abdominal painfulness and regurgitation establish out that her symptoms were the result of complications from a operation she had six decade earlier .
Doctors find there was a 1.5 - in ( 4 atomic number 96 ) longcalcified stonein her intestines , consort to a report of the caseful , published Jan. 8 in the journalBMJ Case Reports . It turn out the stone had been developing inside the cleaning lady over the course of nearly her full life .
When the womanhood was six Day old , she had undergo a surgery for an intestinal blockage . But the surgical method that her doctor used bequeath a sleeping piece of intestine in her body , which conglomerate meat over time , and gradually led to the formation of the pit .
Doctors were able to take out the stone via surgery , and the woman fully recover .
primitively bring out on Live Science .
