Kerala doctors remove whistle stuck in woman’s respiratory system for 25 years

Bothered by racking cough for over two decades, when a 40-year-old woman in Kerala went to a doctor for treatment, it was found that she had a tiny whistle stuck in her respiratory system.

She had accidentally swallowed the whistle in her teenage 25 years ago while playing, which lead to continuous cough for over two decades, a report in Press Trust of India (PTI) said.

The woman hails from Mattannur in Kannur district of Kerala. She went to the doctor following the continuous cough she had been experiencing for a long time, particularly during the cold season.

Doctors said she was referred to the government medical college on Tuesday by a private clinic pulmonologist who suspected the presence of a foreign body in her airways that lead from the trachea into the lungs.

A team of doctors at the medical college, led by doctors Dr Rajiv Ram and Dr Padmanabhan, examined her and found an object was stuck in the bronchus (passage or airway in the respiratory system that conducts air into the lungs), Medical College Superintendent Dr Sudeep told PTI.

She was subjected to bronchoscopy and the whistle she had accidentally swallowed 25 years ago while playing with her friends was removed, doctors said.

Doctors said the woman had thought that she was having breathing difficulties due to asthma. But when the object was removed she recalled the incident, they said, adding, she is now relieved of her breathing problems and cough.

The woman told doctors that she drank a lot of water to dislodge the object but was unaware that it got lodged in the bronchus.