Chapter 1: What unusual case is presented at the start of the episode?
Hi, I'm Wendy Zuckerman and you're listening to Science Versus. Today on the show, a new segment that we're calling Case Files. And this is where we take case reports, which are basically stories from academic literature where really weird things have happened to patients that are often so out of the norm that doctors have to write them down for posterity.
So think about the kid who went to the hospital with a case of blue balls.
Chapter 2: How did a 15-year-old girl get pregnant without a vagina?
Classic case report. But today, we have a case report for you that could perhaps top all case reports. And to process it all, we've got friend of the show and science journalist, Joel Werner. Hello, Joel.
Hey, Wendy.
Oh, boy, boy, boy.
The case report to top all case reports. Like, you're coming in hot. Let's do it. Let's do it.
Okay. This story was published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1988. It begins with a lover's quarrel. and ends with what might be one of the unlikeliest events in scientific history. But it's so unlikely that we're wondering if perhaps it is indeed a fairy tale with some nightmarish elements. One doctor told us it reads like Jerry Springer.
Quote, you don't see much in medicine that's published in this way.
Wow. That is some hype. All I have to say is, Wendy, Wendy, Wendy. Let's get into it.
All right, we're in Lesotho, which is a very small country within the borders of South Africa, and the case report starts off like this.
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Chapter 3: What medical conditions explain the absence of a vagina?
I'm just going to read it to you verbatim, the first few sentences. Quote, "...the patient was a 15-year-old girl employed in a local bar. She was admitted to hospital after a knife fight involving her, a former lover, and a new boyfriend." Who exactly stabbed whom was not quite clear, but all three participants in the small war were admitted with knife injuries.
Wow. She got out of control there, didn't it?
It sure did. So this young woman comes into the hospital with a stab wound to the upper part of her stomach. They have a look and it's actually sort of punctured two holes into her stomach. The doctors operate on her, close up the wounds, keep her for observation, but ultimately she gets to go home after about a week and a half and she's fully recovered. But, of course, our story can't end there.
Months later, she returns to the hospital with a very different issue. It's about nine months later, actually, and she's complaining of serious stomach pain. It's coming in these very intense waves. where the pain gets really bad and then it goes away and then it comes back again. Doctors examine her. What do you think's going on, Joel?
Like, I've got two kids and that sounds like contractions.
Yes.
Yes, okay.
Yes, she is pregnant.
Wow.
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