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Top 12 Strangest Health Stories of 2007
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Medical oddities: They keep us talking and clicking.
While scientists were making advances in stem cell and breast cancer
research, it was often the strangest of health stories that captivated
readers this year.
Here are a dozen of our most clicked-on health stories of 2007:
1.) Eight-Limbed Girl Has Four Limbs Removed: Two-year-old Lakshmi was born
joined at the pelvis to a "parasitic twin" that stopped developing in her
mother's womb. She absorbed the limbs, kidneys and other body parts of the
undeveloped twin and was born with eight limbs. On Nov. 7, more than 30
surgeons operated for 24 hours on the child, removing her extra appendages.
She left a hospital in Bangalore, India in mid-December and is doing well,
according to doctors.
2.) Woman Almost Dies Following Bikini Wax: The Brazilian bikini wax may be
popular with women all over the world, but an Australian woman nearly lost
her life undergoing the hair-removing procedure. A 20-year-old Melbourne,
Australia woman with uncontrolled type 1 diabetes made the news last July
after her brush with death was detailed in the June issue of the journal of
Clinical Infectious Diseases.
"Our case is notable, because it illustrates the infectious risks of pubic
hair removal in a patient with diabetes," wrote the article's authors. "The
beauty industry is growing at an unprecedented rate and more invasive and
potentially harmful procedures are increasingly available."
3.) One-Year-Old Has Two Dead Triplets Removed From Abdomen: In December, a
1-year-old girl's deceased siblings were removed from her abdomen by
Indonesian doctors at a Sumatra island hospital. The two bodies, believed to
be triplets that did not fully develop, were successfully removed from the
girl during a five-hour surgery. Doctors initially diagnosed the girl with
stomach tumors.
4.) Girl Has 10-Pound Hairball Removed From Stomach: Surgeons in Chicago
removed a 10-pound hairball from the stomach of an 18-year-old girl
suffering from a psychological condition in which she ate her own hair,
according to a report in the Thanksgiving edition of the New England Journal
of Medicine. The hairball measured 15 inches by 7 inches by 7 inches when it
was removed. The patient was later discharged from the hospital and given
psychiatric help.
5.) 'Tree Man' Sprouts Roots: Dede, a 35-year-old fisherman from a rural
Indonesian town, is living with a rare and peculiar medical condition that
has transformed his life and his body. Tree-like warty "roots" cover his
skin, and grow outward from his arms and feet. The condition developed after
Dede cut his knee as a teenager. An American doctor attributes the infection
to the human papilloma virus and an immune system deficiency, and believes
the condition can be cured with regular vitamin A treatments.
6.) Jawless Boy Undergoes First of Many Surgeries: A 17-year-old from
Ireland, who has a rare disease that left him without a jaw or chin,
underwent the first of many surgeries in June at The Mount Sinai Medical
Center in New York with the hope of someday having a "normal" face to show
the world. Alan Doherty has an almost unheard-of condition called otofacial
syndrome, which has rendered him unable to eat or speak. He had his second
surgery in November. The operations will continue into 2008.
7.) Man With Almost No Brain Lives Functional Life: French doctors were
amazed in July to find that a 44-year-old civil servant with an abnormally
small brain has led a normal life with a slightly lower than normal IQ. The
condition is called Dandy Walker complex and is a genetically sporadic
disorder that occurs in one out of every 25,000 live births, mostly in
females.
8.) Parasitic Worm Ravages Woman's Body Following Two-Week Bender: Alcohol
brings out the worst in some people. For one woman in the Netherlands, years
of alcohol misuse topped off with a few weeks of binge drinking brought out
a parasitic worm, which had been inside her for more than a quarter-century,
according to a report in the June issue of the Lancet. Doctors believed the
woman contracted the parasite in Suriname, South America (where she was
born) more than 27 years earlier. It was only after chronic alcohol misuse
and malnutrition that the infestation manifested, causing havoc in her
digestive tract, including uncontrollable vomiting, diarrhea, and fever.
9.) Oscar the Cat: A Furry Grim Reaper: Oscar, the resident cat at a
Providence, R.I. nursing home, seems to have an uncanny knack for predicting
when nursing home patients are going to die, by curling up next to them
during their final hours. His accuracy, observed in 25 cases, has led the
staff to call family members once he has chosen someone. It usually means
they have less than four hours to live.
10.) Sixty-Year-Old N.J. Woman Gives Birth to Twins: Foxnews.com was the
first to break the story of Frieda Birnbaum, a 60-year-old from New Jersey
who gave birth to twin boys in May, becoming the oldest woman to give birth
to twins in the United States. The babies were delivered at Hackensack
University Medical Center in Hackensack, N.J., by caesarean section. "Baby
A" weighed 4 pounds, 11.4 ounces, and "Baby B" weighed 4 pounds, 11 ounces.
11.) Record Hangover in the History of Drinking? When a 37-year old man
walked into a hospital emergency room in Glasgow, Scotland complaining of
"wavy" vision and a non-stop headache that had lasted four weeks, doctors
were at first stumped, The Lancet reported in October. After finding out
that the man had consumed 60 pints - roughly 35 liters - of beer over a four
day period, following a domestic crisis, doctors concluded the man was
suffering from the mother of all hangovers.
12.) Man Oozes Green Blood Before Operation: Doctors about to operate on man
suffering from compartment syndrome were having trouble inserting a line,
but what happened next seemed like science fiction. The man began oozing
dark green blood out of the catheter, not unlike Mr. Spock might have done
if he had been on the operating table. The man, who was taking a number of
medications, is believed to have developed sulfhemoglobinaemia, a condition
that forms when a sulphur atom is incorporated into the hemoglobin molecule.
The condition was attributed to the migraine medicine sumatriptan.
Top 12 Strangest Health Stories of 2007
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Medical oddities: They keep us talking and clicking.
While scientists were making advances in stem cell and breast cancer
research, it was often the strangest of health stories that captivated
readers this year.
Here are a dozen of our most clicked-on health stories of 2007:
1.) Eight-Limbed Girl Has Four Limbs Removed: Two-year-old Lakshmi was born
joined at the pelvis to a "parasitic twin" that stopped developing in her
mother's womb. She absorbed the limbs, kidneys and other body parts of the
undeveloped twin and was born with eight limbs. On Nov. 7, more than 30
surgeons operated for 24 hours on the child, removing her extra appendages.
She left a hospital in Bangalore, India in mid-December and is doing well,
according to doctors.
2.) Woman Almost Dies Following Bikini Wax: The Brazilian bikini wax may be
popular with women all over the world, but an Australian woman nearly lost
her life undergoing the hair-removing procedure. A 20-year-old Melbourne,
Australia woman with uncontrolled type 1 diabetes made the news last July
after her brush with death was detailed in the June issue of the journal of
Clinical Infectious Diseases.
"Our case is notable, because it illustrates the infectious risks of pubic
hair removal in a patient with diabetes," wrote the article's authors. "The
beauty industry is growing at an unprecedented rate and more invasive and
potentially harmful procedures are increasingly available."
3.) One-Year-Old Has Two Dead Triplets Removed From Abdomen: In December, a
1-year-old girl's deceased siblings were removed from her abdomen by
Indonesian doctors at a Sumatra island hospital. The two bodies, believed to
be triplets that did not fully develop, were successfully removed from the
girl during a five-hour surgery. Doctors initially diagnosed the girl with
stomach tumors.
4.) Girl Has 10-Pound Hairball Removed From Stomach: Surgeons in Chicago
removed a 10-pound hairball from the stomach of an 18-year-old girl
suffering from a psychological condition in which she ate her own hair,
according to a report in the Thanksgiving edition of the New England Journal
of Medicine. The hairball measured 15 inches by 7 inches by 7 inches when it
was removed. The patient was later discharged from the hospital and given
psychiatric help.
5.) 'Tree Man' Sprouts Roots: Dede, a 35-year-old fisherman from a rural
Indonesian town, is living with a rare and peculiar medical condition that
has transformed his life and his body. Tree-like warty "roots" cover his
skin, and grow outward from his arms and feet. The condition developed after
Dede cut his knee as a teenager. An American doctor attributes the infection
to the human papilloma virus and an immune system deficiency, and believes
the condition can be cured with regular vitamin A treatments.
6.) Jawless Boy Undergoes First of Many Surgeries: A 17-year-old from
Ireland, who has a rare disease that left him without a jaw or chin,
underwent the first of many surgeries in June at The Mount Sinai Medical
Center in New York with the hope of someday having a "normal" face to show
the world. Alan Doherty has an almost unheard-of condition called otofacial
syndrome, which has rendered him unable to eat or speak. He had his second
surgery in November. The operations will continue into 2008.
7.) Man With Almost No Brain Lives Functional Life: French doctors were
amazed in July to find that a 44-year-old civil servant with an abnormally
small brain has led a normal life with a slightly lower than normal IQ. The
condition is called Dandy Walker complex and is a genetically sporadic
disorder that occurs in one out of every 25,000 live births, mostly in
females.
8.) Parasitic Worm Ravages Woman's Body Following Two-Week Bender: Alcohol
brings out the worst in some people. For one woman in the Netherlands, years
of alcohol misuse topped off with a few weeks of binge drinking brought out
a parasitic worm, which had been inside her for more than a quarter-century,
according to a report in the June issue of the Lancet. Doctors believed the
woman contracted the parasite in Suriname, South America (where she was
born) more than 27 years earlier. It was only after chronic alcohol misuse
and malnutrition that the infestation manifested, causing havoc in her
digestive tract, including uncontrollable vomiting, diarrhea, and fever.
9.) Oscar the Cat: A Furry Grim Reaper: Oscar, the resident cat at a
Providence, R.I. nursing home, seems to have an uncanny knack for predicting
when nursing home patients are going to die, by curling up next to them
during their final hours. His accuracy, observed in 25 cases, has led the
staff to call family members once he has chosen someone. It usually means
they have less than four hours to live.
10.) Sixty-Year-Old N.J. Woman Gives Birth to Twins: Foxnews.com was the
first to break the story of Frieda Birnbaum, a 60-year-old from New Jersey
who gave birth to twin boys in May, becoming the oldest woman to give birth
to twins in the United States. The babies were delivered at Hackensack
University Medical Center in Hackensack, N.J., by caesarean section. "Baby
A" weighed 4 pounds, 11.4 ounces, and "Baby B" weighed 4 pounds, 11 ounces.
11.) Record Hangover in the History of Drinking? When a 37-year old man
walked into a hospital emergency room in Glasgow, Scotland complaining of
"wavy" vision and a non-stop headache that had lasted four weeks, doctors
were at first stumped, The Lancet reported in October. After finding out
that the man had consumed 60 pints - roughly 35 liters - of beer over a four
day period, following a domestic crisis, doctors concluded the man was
suffering from the mother of all hangovers.
12.) Man Oozes Green Blood Before Operation: Doctors about to operate on man
suffering from compartment syndrome were having trouble inserting a line,
but what happened next seemed like science fiction. The man began oozing
dark green blood out of the catheter, not unlike Mr. Spock might have done
if he had been on the operating table. The man, who was taking a number of
medications, is believed to have developed sulfhemoglobinaemia, a condition
that forms when a sulphur atom is incorporated into the hemoglobin molecule.
The condition was attributed to the migraine medicine sumatriptan.