Hyderabad: In a rarest of rare cases, Doctors at Century Hospital, one of the prominent healthcare providers in the city, on Thursday said that they removed nearly 150 maggots (or baby houseflies) from the nose of a critically ill woman. A team of experts led by renowned skull base sur- geon Dr. Janakiram operated on the woman and saved her life, the hospital said in a release here.
The 50-year-old woman, who was brought to the hospital in a semi-coma or in a state of delirium, was dangerously sick and required a quick and multispecialty approach to assess her condition and initiate treatment. In the past, this woman, a homemaker from the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, suffered from a Covid-19 infection that led to mucormycosis.
With the infection spreading to her brain, the patient’s right eye was removed. Her kidney functioning got impacted and was diabetic. When the patient was brought to Century Hospital, the team of experts discovered the presence of a bunch of maggots (also known as larvae of houseflies/baby houseflies) inside her nose. This was because of her sick health, due to which she neither realized the condition nor could complain about it.
Commenting on the patient’s condition and treatment, Dr. Janakiram, the Senior ENT Consultant, Century Hospital, who led the procedure said, “Examination of the patient revealed the presence of maggots just below the brain; and considering her high blood sugar levels and weak kidney functioning, the patient’s condition had to be stabilized. While a team of general physicians and nephrologists were striving to stabilize her health condition, we simultaneously initiated the process of cleaning the maggots, he said. Once her condition started improving to the treatment being administered, we realized her facial bones closer to the brain were completely infected.
However, extraordinary efforts put in by the team of experts over a few days gave a second lease of life to the patient now, Dr. Janakiram added. Dr.Hemanth Kaukuntla, CEO, of Century Hospital, said, “I am extremely happy about this 50-year- old woman that we could save her life under the able guidance of internationally acclaimed Skull base surgeon Dr. Janakiram, who is on board with us”.
