Woman discovers maggot living in her ear

A woman in Taiwan got a bit of an earful after doctors discovered a maggot was living inside her ear.

The 48 year-old checked herself into hospital after suffering with chronic ear pain. When doctors removed her hearing aid, they found a live fruit larva crawling around inside her left ear.

“Sometimes we put fruits and vegetables on our dining table. It’s possible that after the larvae have incubated for a while, they might crawl around and then look for some new food and new environment. They could have climbed into the hearing aid, so this woman put the hearing aid into her ear, carrying the larva with it. As a result, this hearing aid became a carrier to bring the larva into her ear.”

The maggot had eroded the skin at the base of the ear canal, causing her severe pain. Luckily, doctors removed the larva, gave her some antibiotics and her ear healed within a few weeks.

Difficult words: maggot (small animal which changes to a fly), chronic (continuing for a long time), larvae (many maggots), severe (very bad).