by Zara Mustapha

A 7-year-old girl in China surprised doctors and her parents after a live leech stuck in her windpipe was removed.

The little girl initially thought to suffer from throat pain due to bad cold which was causing her to have breathing problems.

According to reports, doctors eventually discovered she had a five centimetre live worm in her windpipe and removed it.

Metro News reports:

‘We thought she might have caught a cold, but never thought it was a leech or that it could stay there so long,’ the unnamed girl’s mother said.

Doctors added the worm had probably grown in size while it was in the youngster’s throat after sucking on her blood.

The leech is thought to have entered the schoolgirl’s mouth after she drank directly from a tap.