Post by SpyderLady on May 27, 2007 14:33:22 GMT -6
This gives me the creeps!!!Over 100 Mites Live in Man’s Ear for Years…
| May 27, 2007
It’s a mite noisy for Cambridge man
A Cambridge man is relishing the sound of silence after years of living with a mass of mites on his eardrum.
Paul Balvert’s “noisy nightmare” went undiagnosed for two years, the New Zealand Herald reported today.
The infestation has stunned ear therapists and a clinical microbiologist who are unaware of any other documented cases of mites thriving and reproducing in a human ear.
Entomologists believe the eight-legged inhabitants were flour or grain mites known as Acarus siro.
Mr Balvert is jubilant and “forever grateful” a Hamilton ear nurse made the creepy discovery and eradicated the mites – ending what he had considered an inescapable nightmare.
He believed one or more of the mites got into his ear the day a chicken feed pan emptied over his head. He owns a business specialising in cleaning large chicken sheds.
“For years I had no idea what was wrong. I had been hearing continual bubble and squeak noises in my ears and it was worse at night. Sometimes I would get up in the morning and think I would be lucky if I had got any sleep.
“And there was movement. That was the worst – the itch. Many times during the day and night I would stick my fingers and cotton buds in my ears to try and relieve the itch. It was unreachable.”
His doctor twice flushed his ears with warm water with no respite.
He got short-term relief when a nurse suctioned his ear out but then read an article on tinnitus – noises in ears – and thought that was what he had as he grew older.
Last year he visited Tolbecs Ear Centre in Hamilton.
“A nurse there took one look and called in her boss and others. Then the microbiologist got called in. They were all quite excited,” Mr Balvert said.
Centre director Theresa O’Leary said she was amazed to see an infestation of “very active, tiny, bulbous, semi-transparent mites moving around in a moist layer and white eggs present all over the canal and eardrum.
“There were about a 100 of them. It was a well-stocked breeding ground.”
Suction removed visible mites and eggs but hidden eggs soon hatched and the problem began again.
More suction followed and Waikato Hospital clinical microbiologist Dr Chris Mansell was asked to help identify the mites and help find an anti-mite agent. They settled on a liquid used for scabies and headlice.
Soaking the ear with the liquid and more suctioning worked.
Last week Mr Balvert returned for a final checkup after celebrating undisturbed sleep.
Excuse me while I vacuum out my ears!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
