Radhika Madloi, a four-year-old girl living in central India, began to experience an itch in her left ear last week.
At first, her parents simply brushed off their daughter’s complaints, thinking she was making a large fuss out of nothing.
Over time, however, Radhika began to experience pain and couldn’t stop crying because of it. That was when her parents finally realized that Radhika’s earache was something more serious.
The doctor, Dr. Raj Kumar Mundra, was shocked by what he discovered.
Radhika’s ear smelled so bad that it had somehow attracted the presence of a blow fly (an insect drawn to pungent scents). The fly had decided to take up residence in Radhika’s ear and laid over 80 larvae inside.
Dr. Mundra “was very shocked to see so many eggs.” He warned her parents that if they’d waited any longer before taking Radhika to the hospital, the larvae would have hatched and begun to attack and eat her brain.
Dr. Mundra also explained to the Madloi family that the blow fly “is attracted to foul smells and extremely unhygienic conditions.
“It’s evident this family live [sic] in unhygienic conditions which has seen the young girl suffer as a consequence. It’s a very sad state of affairs.”
Cases like these aren’t unheard of – Dr. Mundra has helped other patients remove a couple larvae and eggs from noses and ears – but Radhika, is by far, the worst case he’s seen.
It took the hospital two sessions to remove all the insects from the girl’s ear.
Following both sessions, doctors ran MRI scans on Radhika to ensure that none of the insects remain present, and thus far, the girl has been safely and effectively relieved of her problem.
The doctors have decided to keep her in the hospital for a few days longer, just to ensure that the week-long insect infestation in her ear hasn’t done more lasting damage on her delicate ear canal or brain.
