Shocking video shows man with 100 flesh-eating maggots inside his nose

March 28, 2015  14:08

A man had more than 100 flesh-eating maggots removed from his nose which, left untreated, would have destroyed his face.

As the gruesome video below reveals, the wriggling creatures were buried deep in the 65-year-old’s sinuses.

The man, from Sao Paulo, Brazil, was suffering from nasal myasis – where the nose and sinuses become infested with the larvae of flies.

Doctors reporting on his case in the New England Journal of Medicine recorded the video after inserting a camera inside his nasal cavity.

He had come to them complaining, among other things, of worms coming out of his nose.  

Nasal myasis is where flies lay their eggs in or around a person’s nose, and they hatch into maggots.

The maggots feed off human flesh and if left untreated, can chew and destroy the bones and soft tissues of the face, nose and eyes.

This can lead to infection in the eyes and brain, and occasionally cause meningitis and even death.

The man came to the Clinics Hospital in Brazil complaining that two days before, he had seen what appeared to be worms emerging from his left nostril.

He was HIV positive and had a hepatitis C infection, and doctors noted that although his immune system was rapidly declining, he wasn’t receiving antiretroviral treatment.

Five years ago, he had a tumour known as a nasal inverted papilloma removed from his sinuses, but hadn't experienced any symptoms until now.

For almost a week, he had suffered bleeding from his nose, a dull ache on the left side of his nose and a foul smell. 


He also had difficulty breathing and swelling around his nose and face.

After putting a camera into the man’s nose, more than 100 maggots were found in his left nasal cavity.

His nasal passage was red, filled with fluid, covered in ulcers and the tissue was crumbling.

Doctors cleared away the maggots individually, guided by a camera, and washed his nose out with a  saline solution.

It took four days to clear the infestation, but after this time, the man’s symptoms went away and a final look with the camera confirmed they had all been removed.

The maggots were identified as Cochliomyia hominivorax (ot the New World Screw worm), which is well known for the way its larvae eats the flesh of warm-blooded animals.

At follow-up after two months, the man’s nasal passages had healed and he had no further symptoms.



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