Doctors find cause of woman's 'itchy ear' - and it's not for the faint-hearted

10 March 2024 , 13:54

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Doctors find cause of woman's 'itchy ear' - and it's not for the faint-hearted

Doctors in India were baffled to discover a live cricket living inside a woman's ear – after she reported discomfort and an itch in the area.

Lalita Dhimar, from Jodhapur, was examined at Dhamtari District Hospital in Chhattisgarh, central India. She was treated by Dr U Kaushik, who used a microscope to look inside her ear before finding the insect.

Footage of the shocking discovery has been released, showing the moment a doctor pulled the insect from her ear using a pair of tweezers. In the video, a doctor inserts the instrument into her ear before carefully extracting the bug.

Doctors were baffled to find the insect in her ear (Jam Press/Newslions)

Lalita Dhimar had been complaining about having an itchy ear (Jam Press/Newslions)

The cricket appears to be large and wriggles as it is removed. It had been buried in Lalita's ear canal and could have caused damage had it remained there.

Lalita had been unaware of the creature and had not noticed when it crawled into her ear. This was not the first time doctors found a live cricket living inside someone's ear, as a similar incident happened to a man in India in 2014.

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Medics found a 3-inch insect in his ear canal and used narrow tweezers to remove the cricket. Indian house crickets are known to be an invasive species, Michael Sweet, lecturer at the University of Derby and an expert on invertebrate biology, told the Daily Star.

The insects prefer warm areas and hide during daylight. "It is likely this cricket crawled into the man's ear while he was sleeping and was just hiding there until night came around," Mr Sweet said.

Lalita had been unaware of the creature (Jam Press/Newslions)

She had not noticed when the cricket crawled into her ear (Jam Press/Newslions)

In a separate incident, a doctor found another cricket in a 50-year-old patient's ear after she complained about "ringing noises" and "strange sensations". They originally believed it was tinnitus and were shocked to find the bug.

Doctor Piradee Chanmonthon, 37, said the lady was lucky that the cricket did not lay any eggs. He said: "Luckily the tick didn't lay any eggs or embedded in her ear because that would take longer to remove and might have involved an operation."

Side effects from ear injuries include redness, swelling, and discharge such as blood, inflammatory fluid and pus. Dizziness, loss of balance and nausea are more extreme symptoms of ear problems.

Dr. Richard Nelson, an emergency medicine physician at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, said it is not uncommon for insects to crawl into human ears. Cockroaches are the most common type of bug to infest the human ear, he explained, adding: "They tend to run toward small, dark places, which fit the description of the ear."

Chiara Fiorillo