Maggot found living in woman’s ear after she complained about earache

A maggot was found living inside a woman’s ear

A woman who complained to her doctor about an earache was found to have a maggot crawling around inside her ear.


The 48-year-old from Taiwan went to the Tri-Service General Hospital, in Taipei, after the pain got progressively worse over a 24-hour period.

Doctors examining the woman noticed her left ear was full of a blood-stained discharge and when they removed her hearing aid they spotted the maggot wriggling around inside her ear canal.

Dr Cheng-Ping Shih told NBC News the hearing aid made her ear warmer than usual and an appealing place for the fruit fly larva to stay.
The maggot had eroded the skin at the base of the ear canal, according to the New England Journal of Medicine.

‘Most cases of animals in the ear canal are the flying objects and cockroaches,’ Dr Cheng-Ping explained. ‘The fruit fly larva in ear canal is relatively unusual.’

Doctors managed to remove the maggot and gave the woman antibiotics. The woman’s ear canal healed after two weeks.