Vacation is a wonderful time to kick back, relax, and enjoy some much needed time away from the day to day hustle and bustle. Sometimes we vacation locally, spending time at home, or at local parks and amusement parks. Sometimes vacations take you away, to another state or country to experience something entirely different from what you’re used to. One woman got more than she bargained for after her vacation to Peru.
Rochelle Harris, from Swanwick in Derbyshire, was 27 when she and her boyfriend took a vacation to Peru. While there, the couple walked through a swarm of flies, not a big deal considering we’ve all had a run-in or two with the annoying insects. One of the flies had gotten in her ear, but she shooed it away and didn’t think any more of it and continued on with their day.
During their flight home, Rochelle developed a severe headache along with shooting pain down one side of her face. She began to notice what sounded like “scratching noises” in her head. The next morning she woke up with liquid on her pillow. She sought help at the Accident and Emergency department at the Royal Derby Hospital. Initially doctors presumed she had a routine ear infection, possibly caused by a mosquito bite. Not completely certain, doctors referred her to the ear nose and throat (ENT) team for further investigation.
An ENT specialist examined her ear, but soon fell silent. She had found a small hole in Rochelle’s ear canal, but could not explain what had happened. The examination continued for another hour. Rochelle’s mother had accompanied her, and was tired of waiting. She asked, “Can you see what it is?”
The doctor replied, “If you don’t mind I’d prefer to speak to the registrar before I tell you anything.”
“Please tell us,” Rochelle’s mom said.
“You’ve got maggots in your ear.”
Rochelle burst into tears. That’s not the news anyone wants to hear.
An emergency brain scan was ordered to determine if any damage had been done. If any, even just one had reached her brain it could cause meningitis, fatal bleeding, and if one happened to eat through her facial nerve, she could be left facially paralyzed. Thankfully the scan showed that no damage had been done to her ear drum, blood vessels, or facial nerve. Unfortunately the maggots had chewed a 12mm hole into her ear canal.
The doctors started by trying to flush the maggots out, using olive oil. “I had to wait overnight to see if the treatment worked. It was the longest few hours of my life,” Rochelle said. The more the doctors tried to get the maggots out, the more the larvae retreated into her head. “I was very scared – I wondered if they were in my brain.”
The next day, during closer inspection with a microscope and speculum they found a “writhing mass” of maggots and a family of eight large maggots.
They performed an emergency surgery and were able to remove all of the invasive mass. The maggots were immediately sent to a lab for analysis, where it was discovered that a New World Army Screw Worm fly had laid eggs in her ear. This fly is also known as cochliomyia and is a member of the blowfly family. These flies live and thrive in hot, tropical countries. Their larvae feed on living tissue causing not only damage, but excruciating pain. These flies were successfully eradicated in the United States in 1959, and have not been back since. However, the Screwworm fly still exists in nearly all tropical climates, including the northern countries in South America.
For a moment, forget about the screwworm fly. Do you know the risk of being bitten by a horsefly?
