A little girl suffering from pain in her ear was horrified to find out she had hundreds of ticks squirming around inside her.
Hayfa Nasir, from Malaysia, had been complaining for weeks about earache which her mother dismissed as a common ear infection.
But Hayfa was taken to the hospital when the pain migrated down her neck and she developed extreme tiredness.
Doctors placed a camera inside her ear and found hundreds of baby ticks – each smaller than a grain of sand – clustered in the ear.
Her mother revealed the case online in a warning to other parents, adding that thankfully her daughter had quickly recovered once the ticks were removed.
The mother said her mistake was likely allowing her daughter to pet strangers’ cats, which may have carried the ticks.
Malaysia’s climate is ideal for ticks, which prefer mild weather and humidity.
Ticks are dangerous because they can transmit bacteria, viruses, and parasites that cause disease in humans and animals, such as the incurable Lyme disease.
Hayfar Nasir, from Malaysia, was found to have an infestation of ticks inside her ear
The above image shows the baby ticks inside the girl’s ear
They are also a menace across the United States, with more than 31million people bitten every year.
Half a million Americans are diagnosed with Lyme disease every year, though the number is likely much higher due to the number of patients who never get treatment.
Ticks may clamber into the ear by crawling onto the skin around the ear and then navigating the ear canal.
Some experts say they may prefer to target the inner ear because the skin here is thinner, making it easier to bite into to suck blood.
Revealing her daughter’s case, Aqila said: ‘Lessons for mothers – don’t ignore your child’s complaints of pain.’
After the ticks were removed, her daughter’s ear was also thoroughly cleaned to remove any eggs that were left behind.
