Extraordinary signs for extraordinary times

A very bizarre medical case in Northwest China has parents, doctors and the media baffled. An 18-month-old girl is excreting metal nails with no apparent discomfort and no sign of her having eaten anything other than normal food.

Doctors at the Children’s Hospital of Yulin city, Shaanxi province, where the little girl is being kept under observation while her astonishing case is being investigated, said the baby girl has excreted 21 nails and a steel pin during the past month.

“At first we thought the baby accidentally swallowed such things, but after being confined in the hospital she continued to expel nails day by day. And more surprisingly, x-rays showed new nails in her stomach after each excretion,” He Bo, president of the hospital said.

It is not unknown for babies to swallow all sorts of objects; at a certain stage of development toddlers tend to put things into their mouths. It is also a medical fact that, if lacking certain minerals, babies may try to satisfy that need by eating charcoal, soil and so on. But this strange case is unprecedented.

The baby’s parents told the media that they are entirely at a loss as to how to explain their daughter’s case. They wonder whether for some inexplicable reason their daughter might be “producing” nails in her stomach. The doctors showed reporters four nails and a steel pin they claimed the girl has excreted.

He Bo announced to the media that from now on the girl will be placed under closer scrutiny and confined to her hospital bed.

In a similar case, in August 2008, Indonesian media sources reported on the strange case of a woman whose body produced fine metal wires just under her skin and protruding through it. The wires were between 10-20 cms long. The woman’s name is Noorsyaidah; she is a teacher from Sangatta, East Kutai and a graduate of Mulawarman University’s school of social and political sciences. Her first symptoms started manifesting in 1991. The metal wires grew out of her chest, her belly and hands. “God probably wants to show His Almightiness through this odd disease,” said Noor. She said that to prevent the wires from hurting her skin, she wore the upper part of a two-piece mukena, the loose clothing worn by Muslim women when praying, and trousers only up to her lower abdomen. She does not allow the wires to stop her from conducting daily activities. As a Muslim, she added she never forgets to perform the Shalat prayers five times a day.

(Source: China Daily, China; Jakarta Post, Indonesia)

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