According to Medical Xpress, a gardener in France, while working on a farm that raised sheep and horses, felt something fall into his eye, causing mild irritation. However, after several hours of persistent itching despite using common remedies, he decided to go to the emergency room.
The examination results at the University Hospital of Saint-Etienne (France) left both the doctor and the patient astonished: A whole swarm of tiny, strange creatures was turning the outer area of the man’s eye into a swimming pool. They were constantly moving and causing conjunctival congestion.
“Strange creatures” swimming in the man’s eye (left) and a close-up “portrait” of them recreated by researchers. (Photo: NEJM)
The strange creatures were identified as larvae of a type of fly that typically lays its eggs in the nostrils of sheep. Once the eggs hatch, the larvae move into the sinuses, feed on mucus, and transform into maggots. After a few weeks, the maggots drop from the sheep’s nose and mature into flies.
It remains unclear how, this time, the swarm of larvae chose such an unusual host and site for parasitism.
The doctors used tweezers to carefully extract each one from the man’s eye and prescribed antibiotics. Fortunately, a follow-up examination ten days later revealed that he had fully recovered, with no damage or infection to the eye.
This unique case has been developed into a study by the doctors, which was recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
