Noises in tourist's head were from flesh-eating maggots

[octoberlib]

(Reuters) - A British woman returned from a holiday in Peru hearing scratching noises inside her head to be told she was being attacked by flesh-eating maggots living inside her ear.

Rochelle Harris, 27, said she remembered dislodging a fly from her ear while in Peru but thought nothing more of it until she started getting headaches and pains down one side of her face and woke up in Britain one morning with liquid on her pillow.

Thinking she had a routine ear infection caused by a mosquito bite, she sought medical treatment at the Royal Derby Hospital in northern England, where a consultant noticed maggots in a small hole in her ear-canal.

When flushing the maggots out failed, the medics resorted to surgery and found a "writhing mass of maggots" within her ear, raising concern they could eat into her brain.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/17/odd-maggots-idUSL6N0FN33E20130717

[msongs]

1. "maggot brain".. ->

[suffragette]

2. The stuff of nightmares

[TheMastersNemesis]

3. Maybe That Is What's Wrong With Republicans - Maggots Ate Their Brains

[Warren DeMontague]

4. So of course I had to investigate this "New World Screwworm"

I really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really wish I hadn't.

[matthews]

5. Well then, I guess I'll leave well enough alone. nt

[octoberlib]

6. Lol, me either. We used to have them in the US until 1966.

The hominivorax was completely eradicated from the southern United States in 1966 and from Mexico in 1991. Primary screwworm has been effectively eliminated in the United States and Mexico. Livestock there continue to be vulnerable, however, and strict laws regarding animal inspection and reporting of suspected infestations remain in place

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochliomyia


From now on, every time I see a fly buzzing around my head I'm covering my ears. I don't care how it looks.

[Marie Marie]

9. OK, you talked me out of any further investigation of my own.

Thanks for sparing me the gory details.

[Igel]

10. Earbugs. n/t

[Vattel]

11. Okay, scratch Peru off list of vacation destinations.

[LuvNewcastle]

12. I don't have a very long bucket list,

but I really want to go to Machu Picchu one of these days. Guess I'll wear ear muffs.