Agence France Presse

Hong Kong, April 8:

A Hong Kong woman hiker who washed her face in a freshwater stream unwittingly returned home with a leech embedded in her left nostril, Hong Kong Medical Journal reported in its April edition.

The woman did not realise anything was wrong until two weeks later when she felt there was something in her nose. A first attempt by the family doctor to remove it failed due to profuse nosebleed. A second attempt in hospital was also unsuccessful as the leech retracted into her nose, the journal said.

Doctors removed it using a nasal spray to anaesthetise the five-centimetre-long bloodsucker a month after it invaded her nostril.