The weirdest medical cases of 2024

It’s almost the end of 2024, and that can only mean one thing. another deep dive into the weirdest medical cases that made us gasp, cringe, and groan this year.

Case studies are an important part of medicine because they can sometimes be the first clue to a new discovery. But they’re also an endless reminder that the human body can get weird, or have weird things happen to it, in all sorts of ways some of the most important clauses or otherwise made news in 2024.

The most vaccinated person in the world

scientists in Germany in March published research showing a man who claimed to have received more than 200 Covid-19 vaccinations over a two-year period. German authorities claimed the man initially continued to be vaccinated to secure vaccination cards that could then be sold to others. , although they eventually dropped the fraud charges. By the time the researchers contacted him, however, he may have really loved his vaccinations; he even chose to get two more shots on his own while being studied.

The researchers found no signs that the man was harmed in any way by his massive vaccinations, and even found some evidence that his immune system was better than average against the coronavirus. Perhaps the most compelling evidence is that the man did not have Covid-19 history of infection, which is rare in today’s world.However, as the researchers wisely point out. You don’t need more than 200 shots to get the most out of your Covid-19 vaccination, just a few will do.

Losing your guts

Two separate cases of people literally spilling their guts made waves this year.

In one case Published this May, a 63-year-old man sneezed and coughed his guts out during recent abdominal surgery another case originally published in September 2022, but only made available online in January 2024. It involves a 52-year-old woman whose covid-induced cough caused her intestines to spill out from the site of an old hernia repair. however, his intestines were also successfully reinserted.

Abdominal surgeries are known to be a risk factor for bowel removal, but they remain rare, but I’ll probably panic a little every time I sneeze for the foreseeable future.

Hairy situation

Just in case you were wondering, hairballs aren’t just a problem for cats.

surgeons from Ecuador in July reports removing a two-pound hair clip from a young woman’s stomach.Massachusetts doctors say they are treating them hairpin case last November, involving a 16-year-old girl who had worsening stomach pain and other gastrointestinal symptoms for weeks.

These cases are examples of Rapunzel syndrome, a rare medical condition in which the mass of ingested hair becomes so large that it obstructs the stomach and possibly the small intestine. Rapunzel syndrome can be life-threatening, although both cases are caught in time before this happens. It is most often caused by a psychological compulsion to pull one’s own hair and eat.

The threenis:

Doctors in the UK in October reports A medical miracle that doubles as a great bar story. a man with not one, not two, but three penises Perhaps the most surprising detail about this case is that the man himself never knew about his unique anatomy. The male’s extra genitals were inside the body, and the external penis appeared and functioned normally. Scientists only discovered his condition after his body was donated to science for post-mortem study.This is the second time someone has had three penises, called triphalia, and the first to be found in an adult male. :

Furry danger

As a cat parent myself, I can attest to the many benefits of cat ownership, but sometimes these felines can cause bouts of medical misery.

This past May, for example, doctors in Portugal detailed how a little girl developed A a rare bone infection from a young kitten her family took in. Oregon health officials earlier this February reports that a woman in her 50s was diagnosed with a rare case of distemper that she may have caught from her recently ill cat.In both cases, the patients made a full recovery, although the Oregon woman’s cat sadly died of the infection.

Although these cases are stranger than most, they are an important reminder that cats are still animals and can be potential carriers of infectious diseases.If you are bitten and scratched by a cat, you always should Wash the wound immediately with soap and water for five minutes (do not scrub), and seek medical attention if you notice any signs of infection.For distemper and some other germs, both cats and the fleas they carry can spread it, so flea prevention can. is important.

Brain worm migraine

This is the story of the most Florida man. doctors in the state in March reports on a man whose months of severe and frequent headaches were caused by a parasitic invader of the brain, the porcine tapeworm (Tape soles)

The condition is formally known as neurocysticercosis, and it is caused by tapeworm cysts. These cysts may not mature into full-fledged adults, but will migrate to various parts of the body, including the brain. Their presence in the brain can sometimes trigger a harmful immune response that causes a wide variety of neurological symptoms , such as seizures and migraines.In this particular case, the man may have a typical tapeworm infection eating undercooked bacon, only to get cysts again due to not washing his hands properly after going to the bathroom.The man was treated with steroids and antiparasitic drugs that helped reduce his symptoms known brainworm survivors are also flourishing.

Toilet problem

Some stories start out bad and somehow get worse.Doctors in Canada in January described A man in his 70s was bitten by a rat that got into his toilet bowl. The man then developed a life-threatening infection from the bite, which sent him to the intensive care unit. The rat gave him the bacterial disease leptospirosis, which made it even weirder , because those bacteria are usually found in rat urine, not saliva.About as much as doctors can say, the rat may have first infected its mouth with germ-soaked urine before biting the man, a real insult injury scenario if I ever heard of one. Fortunately, the man was successfully treated with antibiotics, but who knows if he’ll ever be able to use the toilet again without it. of hidden fear.

Margarita burn

Here’s one reason to limit your day drinking: Doctors in December detail A strange case of phytophotodermatitis, a “margarita burn.” A man developed a nasty rash and blisters on his hands a day after hand-juicing a lime and spending the day outside watching football. Phytophotodermatitis is caused by chemicals by exposure to a class commonly found in plants and fruits known as furanocoumarins, followed by UVA radiation effect: Furocoumarins are absorbed into the skin and sensitize it to UVA light, causing an inflammatory reaction that destroys skin cells.

Unfortunately, no existing treatment can speed recovery from calculi (not to be confused with Lyme disease) – victims simply have to wait days or even weeks for the disease to go away on its own.

The wall of weirdos

Honestly, I’d love to go into detail about all the weird medical things that happened this year, but we all have families to fall back on, so here’s a quick rundown of some honorable mentions.

Here is the man who saw the world in pink after orgasm; the woman who went blind (temporarily, thankfully) from using hair dye; that discovery an autoimmune disorder that prevents vitamin B from reaching your brain; the two men who caught A a deadly fungal infection from bat guano that they used or planned to use as fertilizer for their home-grown cannabis; the woman who caught parasitic pneumonia from eating venison; and a family reunion where people caught on parasitic worms from tainted bear meat (maybe people should just stay away from game meat altogether).

The big eel has escaped

Few cases have ever haunted us at Gizmodo like this next one.

Doctors in Vietnam in July reports pulling a two-foot (61 centimeter) eel out of a man’s gut after he inserted it into his butt, even though the eel had proceeded to chew through his intestines.

The man visited the emergency department with severe abdominal pain. Once there, he told the doctors that he willingly inserted an eel up his anus, although he declined to say exactly why (as is often the case in these cases, however, it probably had something to do with gender). made his condition worse by also spilling the lemon there to allegedly keep the eel in. However, the slipping passenger was uncooperative.While the doctors operated on the man, the eel biting through the intestines it reached his abdominal cavity. The man survived his ill-advised attempt, though not without losing part of his colon.

Remarkably, this actually happened the second case is a butt eel reported this year from doctors in Vietnam, although the other case involved a shorter eel measuring 12 inches (30.5 cm).

Here’s hoping nothing comes close to the weirdness of these two incidents in 2025. Eh, who am I kidding, the weirder the better.