Peru doctors save toddler after swallowing eight needles

INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

LIMA — Doctors in northeastern Peru saved the life of a 2-year-old boy who had swallowed eight injection needles while playing.

“It was once we were in the operating room, and we opened up his abdomen that we found those metal pieces, (and realized) they were really needles,” Dr. Efrain Salazar said.

Local media reported that the needles were used to vaccinate farm animals where the boy’s mother works.

The boy, whose name was not revealed, lives in an agricultural area of Taratopo, some 622 kilometers (386 miles) from the capital Lima.

“Maybe he swallowed them when he was there playing,” the boy’s mother said.

Local media added that the boy’s life was not at risk following surgery.

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/abc