The British Medical Journal has dumped a case report containing graphic photos of a couple’s rear-ends infested with parasitic worms—after those sensitive shots were scooped up by several British tabloids, much to the distress of the couple.

The unlucky pair had picked up the unusual infection on vacation, sunbathing on the beaches of Martinique. At the time, the wife reported feeling a burning sensation on her behind, according to Cambridge News. The next day she awoke to find a rash of “ red pinprick marks ” there, caused by hookworm larva burrowing into her buttocks. Her husband later developed a similar rash on his rump from an infection.

The couple immediately sought treatment and received unhelpful antibiotics and an anti-fungal agent. After an undoubtedly uncomfortable 10-day trip home on a cruise ship, they went to a hospital in Cambridge for treatment. There, they finally received ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug.

But by then, the worms had spread, finding their way into the couple's lungs, causing coughing, shortness of breath, and pain. The couple required additional ivermectin treatments to kick the bum worm infection.

The doctors found their situation medically interesting and saw it as a potential precautionary case for doctors treating odd rashes in other vacationers. So they asked the couple if they could write it up for BMJ, to which the couple agreed.

The case report published in January and was quickly picked up by tabloids, including the Daily Mail and The Sun. Though the report didn’t include the couple’s names or dates of their trip, the couple soon feared that there was enough information—the wife’s age and the island destination, for instance—that colleagues and friends could figure it out, according to the Washington Post. One of them contacted the BMJ with their concerns.

In a statement to the Post, BMJ said:

Prior to publication of the article, written consent from the patient was obtained. By signing the consent form, the patient indicated their understanding that complete anonymity could not be guaranteed and it was also made clear in the consent form that BMJ publications are viewed by many non-doctors, including journalists. … The patient’s concerns did not amount to a legal threat… Nevertheless, the journal took the editorial decision to remove the article, because of the distress the patient had suffered.

Now, an online link to the withdrawn article, titled “Cutaneous larva migrans with pulmonary involvement” includes the brief explanation:

“With no admission of liability, BMJ has removed this article voluntarily at the request of the patient concerned.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hookworm larvae are often spread in the feces of infected cats and dogs. Most reported cases are in people who have traveled to the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, and South America, and beaches are a common source of infection. The agency recommends that travelers wear shoes on potentially contaminated ground and have barriers, like towels, when they sit down.

Without such protections, people are sitting ducks for larvae in sand or soil. After hatching from eggs in feces, the larvae can survive for three to four weeks waiting for a next victim. When the larvae come in contact with a host, they burrow into the skin and try to hitch a ride in the blood stream to the heart and lungs. In the lungs, the larvae claw their way out of the organ's tiny air sacs and then clamber up to the windpipe to the pharynx to be coughed and swallowed. The larvae then settle into the small intestines, where they develop into adults and shed eggs. That said, most species of hookworms can't migrate that far in humans and tend to just squirm around aimlessly in skin tissue.

This post has been updated to include life cycle information.