Man discovers flesh-eating maggots eating his eardrum

When a 64-year-old man in Portugal went to the hospital after experiencing pain, itching and bleeding for five days, he wasn’t prepared for what doctors found. It turns out his symptoms were caused by an infestation of maggots in his ears, eating away at his ear drum.

Maggot infestation

According to doctors at Hospital Pedro Hispano, a physical exam revealed the rare and unusual case of ‘numerous mobile larvae’ blocking the patient’s ear canal. In a paper published in The New England Journal of Medicine, the medics explained that they had to use ear forceps to retrieve the larvae by irrigating the ear with water. It was also discovered, upon closer examination, that the larvae had made holes in a small area of the man’s ear drum. In an interview with News week, Catarina Rato, one of the doctors treating the patient and a co-author of the paper said:

The [characteristics] of the larvae, cylindrical, segmented, white yellow-colored body... were compatible with the Cochliomyia hominivorax species.

Screw-worm fly

The species of larvae found in the man’s ears belong to a parasitic fly known for how its larvae eat the living tissue of warm-blooded animals. Female species of this fly can lay between 250-500 eggs in exposed living flesh, often targeting wounds in animals, according to a California Department of Food and Agriculture fact sheet about the species. The maggots then hatch and burrow into the surrounding flesh, feeding on it as they do so.

The larvae tend to infect areas such as the mouth, any open wounds, the scalp and natural orifices like the ears, nose and genitals. If the larvae are dead or decomposing in deep tissues, surgery may be required to remove them. Rato explained some risk factors:

The most common risk factors are chronic otitis media [recurrent ear infection], diabetes, alcoholism, low socioeconomic status and swimming in stagnant waters.

She added that the patient was treated with antibiotic ear drops, boric acid solution and oral antibiotics.

Sources used:

News Week: Man's Ear Infested With Flesh-Eating Maggots That Were Feasting on Eardrum

Nature World News: Flesh-Eating Maggots Found Inside Man's Ear and Eating His Eardrum: Rare Case Study