TAIPEI CITY: Doctors were shocked during their examination of a woman who visited a hospital due to an unusual noise in her ear. A 64-year-old woman from Taiwan complained of sleep disturbance caused by strange sounds in her left ear. After a medical examination, doctors discovered a spider inside her ear canal.

The woman had reported her inability to sleep properly for four days expressing concerns about something moving within her ear. Subsequently, medical professionals examined her ears and successfully removed the spider using a tube. Hospital officials confirmed that the woman's eardrum remained undamaged.

Doctors from Taiwan's Tenan Municipal Hospital later documented the incident in the New England Journal of Medicine and shared a video on their website. The video reveals the spider's movement inside the woman's ear. The doctor noted that the woman did not experience pain as the spider was very small. Additionally, the doctor mentioned a similar case in April when a young woman with an earache also had a spider in her ear.

A woman with hypertension presented to the clinic with a 4-day history of abnormal sounds in her ear. On examination, a small spider was seen moving within the external auditory canal of the left ear. The molted exoskeleton of the spider was also present. https://t.co/dye2sbbiL9 pic.twitter.com/SfeNBBGQS8

— NEJM (@NEJM) October 25, 2023