Woman finds flesh-eating maggots inside her head

A 27-year-old British woman who suffered from headaches and heard 'scratching' noises has revealed she was harbouring flesh-eating maggots in her head.

Rochelle Harris, from Derby, was flying back from a holiday in Peru when she began experiencing terrible headaches.

According to the UK's The Daily Mail, shortly after the flight home Harris also began to suffer from sharp shooting pains down one side of her face and could hear 'scratching' noises inside her head.

He ear was also flooding with liquid.

'I was very scared - I wondered if they were in my brain. I thought to myself "This could be very, very serious,"' Harris told The Daily Mail.

An ear nose and throat (ENT) specialist first raised the alarm after Harris' symptom's had been dismissed by her local hospital as a middle ear infection.

'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", Harris told The Daily Mail.

'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 remove the maggots but attempts forced the larvae further into Harris' head.

An emergency brain scan revealed that although the maggots had not caused any damage to her ear drum, blood vessels or facial nerves, they had chewed a 12mm hole through Rochelle's ear canal.

Attempts to bring the larvae to the surface by flooding the ear with olive oil too were unsuccessful.

'I had to wait overnight to see if the treatment worked,' Rochelle told The Daily Mail.

'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.'

The eight large maggots were finally removed using a microscope and speculum.

Doctors believe a New World Army Screw Worm Fly had laid eggs inside Rochelle's ear during her time in Peru.