Koro - An Important Affliction
Dear Scrubsters,
Let us start this weblog with an important affliction I insist you familiarise yourself with: Koro
This important yet misunderstood condition is often overlooked and probably underdiagnosed. I am currently writing a thesis on this very topic and it will soon be very big news in the medical world indeed.
Koro is a pathological fear that the genitals are shrinking into the body. It is no laughing matter students, it is a true psychiatric condition. No sniggering please. Let us discuss a case...
The Case
The case we will focus on happened during my time as an eager young pup at medical school.
Bob was a fellow medical student like me, and a pretty normal chap, a fine fellow one might say. I never would have expected anything unusual from this bright young man, afterall, he did drive a very respectable Citroen Xantia.
I was taking part in my usual community-minded charity work at the local shelter (I would do anything for the poor folk, God bless their souls), when a distinguished and popular lady of the night sought my confidence and expressed a concern about the wellbeing of my honourable colleague Bob.
That is when the story of Koro began to unravel. It turns out our esteemed collegue often frequented brothels and the local girls had noticed some strange changes in his behaviour.
You see koro can often develop due to unhealthy sexual activity such as sex with prostitutes, profuse maturbation and frequent 'nocturnal emissions', all of which Bob was well known for.
The little hussy also told me she had started to worry about him (very caring some of these working girls you know) ever since he took to tying things to his penis.
The Treatment
Yes thats right, those with koro are so worried about losing their manhood that they tie weights on the end.
Now its important for us healthcare professionals to realise that not all koro sufferers use the same implement. Others may opt for items like that below...
The Causes
Prostitutes, Masturbation, Witchcraft, Food Poisoning (Psychiatric Illness!)
If you know anyone who fits this picture, seek urgent expert advice.
Heres some interesting points on koro u can use to impress your peers...
'Koro is also thought to be transmitted through food. In 1967, there was a koro epidemic in Singapore after newspapers reported cases of koro due to eating pork which came from a pig that had been inoculated against swine fever. Not only did pork sales go down, but hundreds of koro cases followed'
Who needs BSE or Foot and Mouth?
'In some parts of Africa, lynch mobs have attacked so-calledpenis snatchers based on accusations of men who claimed that the evildoers have somehow caused their genitalia to retract into the abdomen.'
Conclusion
Well I hope I've informed your practice about this devastating illness. Its important to keep it in mind and I often have it high up on my list of differentials. STAY ALERT!
To keep up to date why not check out these excellent koro websites. They were used in the formation of this very weblog:
The Skeptic's Dictionary by Robert Todd Carroll
http://skepdic.com/koro.html
A BBC Resource
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A593354
That is all for now, I'm off to watch a game of Ruggers.
The Prof
Let us start this weblog with an important affliction I insist you familiarise yourself with: Koro
This important yet misunderstood condition is often overlooked and probably underdiagnosed. I am currently writing a thesis on this very topic and it will soon be very big news in the medical world indeed.
Koro is a pathological fear that the genitals are shrinking into the body. It is no laughing matter students, it is a true psychiatric condition. No sniggering please. Let us discuss a case...
The Case
The case we will focus on happened during my time as an eager young pup at medical school.
Bob was a fellow medical student like me, and a pretty normal chap, a fine fellow one might say. I never would have expected anything unusual from this bright young man, afterall, he did drive a very respectable Citroen Xantia.
I was taking part in my usual community-minded charity work at the local shelter (I would do anything for the poor folk, God bless their souls), when a distinguished and popular lady of the night sought my confidence and expressed a concern about the wellbeing of my honourable colleague Bob.
That is when the story of Koro began to unravel. It turns out our esteemed collegue often frequented brothels and the local girls had noticed some strange changes in his behaviour.
You see koro can often develop due to unhealthy sexual activity such as sex with prostitutes, profuse maturbation and frequent 'nocturnal emissions', all of which Bob was well known for.
The little hussy also told me she had started to worry about him (very caring some of these working girls you know) ever since he took to tying things to his penis.
The Treatment
Yes thats right, those with koro are so worried about losing their manhood that they tie weights on the end.
Young Bob had no sophisticated gadgetry like the above picture. He used a piece of wood on a string. Heres an actual photo...
Now its important for us healthcare professionals to realise that not all koro sufferers use the same implement. Others may opt for items like that below...
Shaped like a bear. For comfort.
The Causes
Prostitutes, Masturbation, Witchcraft, Food Poisoning (Psychiatric Illness!)
If you know anyone who fits this picture, seek urgent expert advice.
Heres some interesting points on koro u can use to impress your peers...
'Koro is also thought to be transmitted through food. In 1967, there was a koro epidemic in Singapore after newspapers reported cases of koro due to eating pork which came from a pig that had been inoculated against swine fever. Not only did pork sales go down, but hundreds of koro cases followed'
Who needs BSE or Foot and Mouth?
'In some parts of Africa, lynch mobs have attacked so-calledpenis snatchers based on accusations of men who claimed that the evildoers have somehow caused their genitalia to retract into the abdomen.'
Conclusion
Well I hope I've informed your practice about this devastating illness. Its important to keep it in mind and I often have it high up on my list of differentials. STAY ALERT!
To keep up to date why not check out these excellent koro websites. They were used in the formation of this very weblog:
The Skeptic's Dictionary by Robert Todd Carroll
http://skepdic.com/koro.html
A BBC Resource
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A593354
That is all for now, I'm off to watch a game of Ruggers.
The Prof
This entry was posted by peresh, on
Thursday, August 17, 2006.
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