One in a million: He caught the flu and lost his nose

31-year-old Brandon Boothby, who lives in the US, contracted a very rare fungal infection after catching the flu. According to a report in The Mirror, the disease, which occurs in only 2 out of every million people each year in the US and the UK, ate away at the unfortunate man's nose and part of his eye socket. Stating that "a single illness could have killed me," Boothby described what he went through because of the fungal infection that consumed his face.

Brandon Boothby says of his illness, "It is such a serious disease that you could catch a deadly infection when someone around you sneezes." He is not wrong. Fortunately, the disease can be treated with immunosuppressive drugs, chemotherapy, and blood and bone marrow transplants. Naturally, Brandon began waiting for a bone marrow donor. However, after a while, the young man's nose began to itch. This is where the incident, which has become a topic on news websites all over the world, gets interesting.

The man, who applied to the hospital once again due to itching, pain, and swelling in his nose, was diagnosed with a deadly fungal infection. What made the infection deadly was his aplastic anemia. Doctors performed 5 surgeries to stop the fungus. However, the infection that started in the patient's nose was spreading rapidly. The infection, which was progressing toward the patient's eyes, could have spread to the brain and caused Brandon's death.

After trying to save his nose for two weeks, doctors decided that they had to remove his entire nose along with part of his eye socket to stop the fungus and save his life. Due to his aplastic anemia, Brandon Boothby lost his nose after catching the flu.

News Source: 12punto