A two-year-old Brazilian boy was discovered to have as many as 50 metal sewing needles inside his body and a doctor treating the boy said on Wednesday they were apparently stuck there one by one.
Doctors found no signs of outside wounds on the boy, but x-ray images showed some of the needles inside his body.
Oeste Hospital Director Doctor Luiz Cesar Soltoski said surgeons hope to remove most of the needles, some as long as two inches (5 centimetres), but because some are stuck in his lungs, they have to wait until the child's breathing improves.
Some cannot be removed; they are too close to vital organs or actually inside them, Soltoski said.
The boy's mother, a maid, brought him to a hospital in the small northeastern city of Ibotirama on Thursday, saying he was complaining of pain.
The mother told police she doesn't know how the needles got inside her son, but police have opened an investigation.
The boy's father, told Brazil's A Tarde newspaper that he believes his son could have been a victim of a black magic ritual.
He added that during a visit to the home where the boy was living with his mother and stepfather he found unspecified items that could be used for black magic
Though as of yet,Police statements so far have not mentioned a possible cause for the needles.
Soltoski said he believes the needles were stuck into the child's body one by one because it would have been impossible for him to swallow them.
and Luiz Eduardo Goes, a gastroenterologist based in Salvador who is not treating the boy, told TV Globo it is unlikely the child swallowed the needles.
The boy is in intensive care, but Soltoski said his condition has improved since he was admitted.