Crocodile attacks, lightning strikes and simply being too horny are some of the weirdest reasons why people in England needed hospital care last year.
MailOnline analyzed official data from NHS England to uncover some of the strangest causes of hospital admission in the year to March 2023.
Some elderly Britons required hospital care after being ‘bitten or struck’ by a crocodile or alligator in their own home, with one requiring emergency treatment.
Other bizarre cases involved Britons being exposed to volcanoes, catching the plague or being exposed to a nuclear weapon.
The NHS data has been anonymised, revealing only the age and gender of the patients and whether the case was an emergency.
It also only records admissions, not individual patients, so in theory an individual Briton could appear more than once in the figures.
In addition, it is believed that there have been some incidents abroad where Britons sought assistance when returning from travel abroad.
Here, MailOnline details some of the strangest reasons why people needed NHS treatment between April 2022 and March this year:
A host of strange illnesses and accidents sent Britons seeking NHS care last year
Animal attacks, both large and small
A total of six Britons were ‘bitten or struck’ by a crocodile or alligator last year, with the average age of the victims being 68.
Two British men, both aged over 70, were attacked in their homes, with one case resulting in serious injuries.
And another elderly Briton, this time a 79-year-old woman, was injured by a predatory reptile on the street or road, although her injury did not appear serious.
Crocodiles weren’t the only scaly attackers that sent Britons to hospital last year.
Another 68 Britons were bitten or ‘crushed’ by reptiles, a group that also includes lizards and turtles. In 22 cases it was an emergency situation.
The vast majority of these recordings involved incidents in the home, indicating that the attacks came from pets.
Six Britons were ‘bitten or struck’ by a crocodile or alligator last year, with the average age of victims being 68 (stock image)
Exposure to snake venom was responsible for 65 admissions, 10 of which were for children and 10 as emergencies.
Britain has only one native venomous snake, the viper, although people can buy much deadlier exotic species as pets.
Spider venom led to 25 admissions, but only three of those were classified as emergencies.
Brits were also sent to hospital 23 times last year after ‘contact with a marine animal’, such as a shark, seal, crab or octopus, with eight admissions being emergencies.
One unfortunate Briton needed care after being stung by a scorpion and two were patiently bitten or sprayed by a poisoned centipede or centipede.
But dogs posed the biggest threat to the British, with 9,424 admissions, a third of which were emergencies.
Natural disasters, poisonous mushrooms and nuclear weapons
Animals weren’t the only natural hazard that sent Brits to hospital last year.
A total of nine Britons, six men and three women, required care after being struck by lightning, although only three required emergency care.
Six Britons also needed help after being exposed to a volcanic eruption, for example by inhaling ash, but none was an emergency.
An 84-year-old man required treatment due to exposure to nuclear weapons (stock image)
As Britain has no active volcanoes, these confessions are likely to relate to incidents abroad where Britons sought help upon their return.
Forest gatherers were also at risk of being hospitalized, with 67 admissions due to exposure to toxic mold, 25 of which were emergencies.
One of the most unique NHS admissions involved an 84-year-old man who required treatment due to exposure to nuclear weapons.
Given the man’s age and the fact that the confession was not considered an emergency, it is highly likely that he was one of more than 20,000 British soldiers who took part in nuclear weapons tests in Australia and the South Pacific between 1952 and 1967.
However, given the anonymised nature of the NHS data, this cannot be confirmed.
Diseases from Ebola to the Black Death to maggots in the eyeballs
While concerns about new Covid variants dominated the news last year, other and sometimes older pathogens sent Britons to hospital.
A total of 42 Britons required treatment for the plague known as the Black Death, a disease responsible for killing millions of Europeans during the Middle Ages.
It gets its name from the black-colored sores that appeared on the bodies of the infected.
The disease, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, was spread by fleas on the backs of rats and spread across medieval Europe.
Fortunately, it is now much less dangerous thanks to antibiotics, but it can still be fatal if left untreated.
Of the cases found in England, 13 involved pneumonic plague, an airborne version of the disease.
However, four cases had the bubonic form of the disease, which causes the famous boils.
Three Britons required NHS care last year for the incredibly contagious and dangerous flesh-eating Ebola virus
Three Britons were admitted to NHS care due to the incredibly contagious and dangerous flesh-eating Ebola virus, including a baby under a year old.
Two of the cases were considered emergency admissions, which is standard practice for Ebola cases on the NHS.
Ebola is a hemorrhagic fever that causes muscle and joint pain, fever, bleeding and shock from blood loss and kills about half of those who contract the disease.
The NHS data does not include the outcome of any admissions.
A hospital in Essex was closed overnight in November last year after a patient had tell-tale symptoms of the virus.
The latest NHS data also reported two cases of anthrax, a disease normally associated with ancient history or bioterrorism.
One of these involved anthrax sepsis, in which spores of the bacteria enter the bloodstream directly, for example through a needle.
Cases of anthrax sepsis have previously been reported among heroin users in Britain.
One of the most heartbreaking infections recorded in the NHS figures was that of ocular myiasis, where flies lay maggots in one or both of a patient’s eyes.
A total of 24 cases were recorded, with the patients having an average age of 76 years.
Sexual disorders and foreign objects located in intimate areas
Britons were affected by a wide variety of sexual disorders in 2022-2023.
A total of 37 cases of ‘excessive sex drive’ were diagnosed last year, which could indicate Britons have a so-called sex addiction.
Of the recorded admissions, the vast majority (30) were men, with an overall average age of 57 years.
Shockingly, eight of the people diagnosed with the condition were over the age of 80.
A total of 37 cases of ‘excessive sex drive’ were diagnosed among Brits last year (stock image)
However, some or all of these patients may have been the same patient seeking care multiple times.
Exhibitionism, a fetish in which people become aroused by showing their naked bodies to others, was diagnosed 25 times.
Only one woman was diagnosed with the condition, with an overall average age of 50 years.
Two diagnoses of voyeurism, the practice of obtaining sexual pleasure from watching others have sex or peeking at them when they are naked, were also recorded, both in men.
In addition, almost 2,250 admissions were recorded because foreign bodies were found in rectums, vaginas or urethras.
The NHS recorded 1,021 cases of objects in the rectum, a complaint that is twice as common in men than women.
There have been 965 objects found in vaginas and 263 cases of someone getting an object stuck in their vagina urethra.
Inserting objects into the urethra for sexual pleasure is called riveting, but objects inserted in this way carry the risk of becoming stuck, requiring medical care to remove them.