A spider crawled into a woman’s ear and molted there, causing the patient to have hearing problems.
- A spider crawled into a woman’s ear and molted there, causing the patient to have hearing problems.
- The spider in question would be a Salticidae.
- The spider and exoskeleton were removed from the 60-year-old’s ear using a suction cup, after which the symptoms immediately stopped.
It’s a nightmare scenario. According to a new case study published in the New England Journal of Medicinea spider slipped into a woman’s ear and molted there, causing the patient to have hearing problems.
The spider and its exoskeleton were in the left ear
“A 64-year-old woman presented to an otolaryngology clinic after hearing abnormal flapping, clicking and rustling sounds for four days that prevented her from sleeping,” write the doctors in their report.
“On examination, a small spider was found to be moving in the external ear canal of his left ear,” add the doctors. “The animal having molted, the exoskeleton of the spider was also in the same place”, also report the scientists (see the video below).
The spider removed from the ear using a suction cup
The spider in question would be a Salticidae. “Many hunting spiders of this type (i.e. those that do not live in prey-catching webs) seek a sheltered place to molt, as they cannot defend themselves against predators during this process” , said Jerry Rovner, professor emeritus of biology at Ohio University.
The spider and exoskeleton were removed from the 60-year-old’s ear using a suction cup, after which the symptoms immediately stopped.
