PHUKET: Doctors in Pichit Hospital were presented with a medical conundrum on March 25, when an eight-year-old boy was brought in with a climbing perch stuck up his bottom.
The boy, whose name was given in media reports but is omitted here, was carried into the hospital by his 60-year-old grandmother.
The boy told doctors that on the way home from school he and some friends saw a great number of climbing perch splashing in the mud of a drying-out pond.
Seizing the rare opportunity, the boys stripped off and jumped in to catch the fish.
As the boy was grabbing perch, he felt something push into his bottom. Using his hands to feel what was causing the odd sensation, he felt the tail fins of a wriggling fish sticking out his anus. Before he could do anything, however, the little fish lived up to its name and climbed all the way into his bottom.
The boy shouted for his friends to go and get help and his grandmother, who rushed him to hospital.
At the hospital doctors X-rayed Sonanan, who was in considerable pain from the sharp spines and fins of the little fish that was still thrashing around inside him.
On the X-ray, doctors saw a fish between two and three centimetres long lodged in the entrance to his lower intestine.
Asked about the experience, the boy said he would never go fishing again.
Ministry of Public Health Spokesperson Dr Suphan Srithamma advised that when swimming in bodies of water that have small animals like fish and leeches capable of entering through an orifice - especially the anus - people should be sure to wear tight-fitting underwear.
If something unexpected should happen - such as a fish climbing up one's anus - try to keep as still as possible to prevent it from climbing further up the alimentary canal; then get to hospital as fast as possible.
