A woman has spoken of her terror at discovering that she harboured flesh-eating maggots inside her ear.
When
Rochelle Harris, 27, from Derby, returned from the holiday of a
lifetime in Peru, she thought little of the headaches that she had
started to develop on the flight back to the UK.
But
within hours she had developed excruciating shooting pains down one
side of her face and had started to hear strange scratching sounds in
her head. The next morning she woke to a pillow soaked with fluid from
her ear.
Rochelle Harris has been on holiday in Peru with
her boyfriend James (pictured) when she walked through a swarm of
flies. On the flight back to the UK she developed head pains and started
to hear unusual sounds inside her head
Rochelle's ordeal features in a
new Discovery Channel documentary, called 'Bugs, Bites and Parasites'
that follows the work of specialists who are faced with patients
exhibiting a variety of mysterious symptoms - more often than not from
people who have travelled abroad.
On her arrival back in the UK,
Rochelle became increasingly concerned there may be something seriously
wrong, so she visited her local Accident and Emergency department at the
Royal Derby Hospital.
The New World Army Screw Worm Fly (CGI pictured)
laid eggs inside Rochelle's ear where they hatched and feasted on her
flesh. They eventually burrowed 12mm into Rochelle's ear but luckily did
not hit her facial nerve, which could have left her face paralysed
Initially doctors weren't concerned
by her symptoms and presumed that they had developed because of a minor
ear infection or an infected mosquito bite.
She was referred to the ear nose and throat (ENT) team for further investigation to rule out a more sinister problem, however.
Rochelle said that as her ear was being examined, the ENT specialist went silent.
The
doctor had found a small hole in the ear canal which needed further
investigation but would not explain what the problem was.
After almost an hour of silent examination Rochelle, and her mother who had accompanied her, asked if they were any closer to a diagnosis.
The scan revealed that the maggots have burrowed 12mm into Rochelle's head
She
said: 'My Mum asked her "Can you see what it is?" and the doctor said
"If you don't mind I'd prefer to speak to the registrar before I tell
you anything".
'My Mum said "Please tell us" and that's when the doctor said "You've got maggots in your ear". I burst into tears instantly.'
Doctors
tried to get the maggots out but the more medics delved into her ear,
the more the larvae retreated into Rochelle's head.
'I was very scared - I wondered if they were in my brain. I thought to myself "This could be very, very serious."'
Doctors
ordered an emergency brain scan to find out if any damage had been done
by the maggots, as well as to determine how many there were and where
they were hiding.
Here the the moment doctors found a 'writhing
mass of maggots' is captured. The tips of a maggot's head can be seen as
doctors try to extract the larvae from Rochelle's ear
There was a risk that they
were migrating through her head. If one reached her brain it could cause
meningitis, fatal bleeding and if one ate through her facial nerve she
might be left facially paralysed.
Luckily, the scan showed that no damage had been
done to Rochelle's ear drum, blood vessels or facial nerve.
But they did discover that the
maggots had chewed a 12mm hole into a ear canal.
Doctors then tried to drown them by flooding the ear canal with olive oil.
'I had to wait overnight to see if the treatment worked,' said Rochelle. 'It was longest few hours of my life.
'I just wanted them out of me and now I knew what was causing the sensations and sounds it made it all the worse.'
Rochelle Harris was given a MRI scan to see if
the maggots had migrated to her brain, but luckily they had not got very
far. She said the wait for minor surgery to remove the maggots was the
longest few hours of her life
The next day doctors checked her ear and
astonishingly the maggots were still alive. They managed to remove two,
but doctors were concerned there might be one more left inside her.
Rochelle was sedated and surgeons explored her ear using a microscope and speculum. They were shocked by what they found.
As
they pushed further inside the ear, they found what they described as a
'writhing mass of maggots'. The two of maggots that had been
extracted were not alone - further examination revealed Rochelle was in
fact hosting a family of eight large maggots.
Rochelle (pictured with boyfriend James) said
she remembered walking through a swarm of flies when in Peru and a fly
did indeed get inside her ear. But once she shooed it away she thought
nothing more of it
The maggots were immediately sent to a lab for analysis where it was discovered that that a New World Army Screw Worm Fly had laid eggs inside her ear.
Rochelle
said she remembered walking through a swarm of flies when in Peru and a
fly had got inside her ear. But once she had shooed it away she thought
nothing more of it.
Since
her traumatic encounter, Rochelle has suffered no long-term problems and
she says that there has been a positive side-effect of having maggots
living in her head.
She said: 'I'm no longer as squeamish as I was about bugs - how can you be when they've been inside your head?'
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