Man develops maggot infestation in his ear after housefly lays eggs while he is asleep

November 17, 2014  11:44

A young man suffering from a maggot infestation in his ear had to have hundreds of the creatures painstakingly removed with tweezers, The Daily Mail reported.

The maggots, visible as a wriggling white mass deep in his ear, were feeding off his flesh.

If left untreated, they could have burrowed into his brain and killed him.

Dr Vikram Yadav, who treated the man and later uploaded the video to Youtube, explained the houseflies invaded the man’s ear while he was sleeping.

After laying their larvae in his ear, they hatched into hundreds of maggots, which fed off his flesh.

Each about one centimetre long, they can be seen squirming as the doctor removes them individually with tweezers.

He then adds them to a plastic tube, where they are seen wriggling.

The infestation is known as aural myasis - a common condition in the tropics and subtropics.

It is usually seen in children younger than 10 years of age or in debilitated individuals.

Due to international travel, there have also been cases in Europe and North America.

People with aural myasis might experience buzzing in their ear and notice smelly discharge, and it can cause deafness.

Infestations of the nose and ears are considered dangerous because of the possibility the maggots could penetrate into brain.

The fatality rate is eight per cent in such cases, according to one paper by Turkish academics on the subject.

As part of the video, Dr Yadav claims the best way to remove the maggots is ‘to make them suffocate so they come to the surface.’

He adds that he uses the anti-parasitic medicine ivermectin so new eggs don’t hatch, and picks the maggots out manually.

He continues: ‘If anybody sleeps, a child, an old person, and you see any houseflies there, put some cloth on their face so they don’t enter into the orifices and lay their eggs. ‘Prevention is better.’

 

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