Maggots chew hole in woman's ear

Rochelle said she remembered walking through a swarm of flies when in Peru and a fly had got inside her ear. File photo / Getty Images

A British woman has spoken of her horror at discovering she had picked up flesh-eating maggots, which had burrowed into her ear, from her holiday to Peru.

Rochelle Harris, 27, from Derby, started to get blinding headaches after she returned from her trip.

She thought nothing of it, 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.

Doctors referred her to the ear nose and throat (ENT) team for investigation. Harris said that as her ear was being examined, the ENT specialist fell silent. "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."

She was then given an emergency brain scan to find out how many there were and if they had done any damage.

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.

It showed that no damage had been done to Harris's ear drum, blood vessels or facial nerve.

But they discovered that the maggots had chewed a 12mm hole into her ear canal.

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.

She said she has suffered no long-term side-effects.