Maggot living in woman's ear found

Maggot was found living in a 48-year-old woman's ear. / Courtesy of New England Journal of Medicine

By Cho Hyun-eui

A Taiwanese woman suffering from a severe earache for 24 hours has been found to have a maggot living in her ear, the Daily Mail reported Thursday.

Doctors found the fruit fly larva moving around in the 48-year-old woman’s ear canal after they removed the hearing aid from her left ear. They believe it had been there for at least a day.

Doctors said, “The skin over the floor of the auditory canal, close to the eardrum, was eroded.”

The woman’s ear was less sensitive than usual, because she has been wearing a hearing aid for several years.

The hearing aid also contributed to provide an appropriate environment for larva by making the ear warmer than normal.

Doctors were able to remove the maggot easily. The woman’s earache was cured immediately after the larva was removed.

The case was published in Wednesday's edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.

The doctors said, “It is relatively unusual to find fruit fly larva in ear canals because most cases of animals in the ear canal are flying objects and cockroaches.”