Maggots eat up man’s head

Doctors at GT Hospital were astounded to see a patient at the out-patient department with a gaping hole — big enough to fit in a tennis ball — in his head.

After inspection, it was found that maggots (larvae of housefly) had eaten up the skin protecting his head, the muscle below, and had reached the skull. Others patients at the OPD were horrified to see maggots falling off the man’s head as he walked towards the doctor.

The hole was around 10X8 cm and his head was fully exposed to the environment. But Bholu, 26, was in his senses when he came to the hospital on Tuesday. He could even talk, Dr Vivek Tilwani, the honorary associate professor of surgery at GT Hospital, said.

Doctors who treated him say it was a miracle that his nervous system was functioning properly. About 500 to 700 maggots were removed from his head over the next two days in four sessions of 30 minutes each.

“It was surprising to see that his vital functions were fine,” Tilwani said. “In a decade of treating maggot infections, we have never come across such a case where the head has been eaten up.”

Bholu, a pavement dweller, was injured in the head about two to three weeks ago. It became infectious as it was left untreated. “These infections emit an odour and that attracts the flies to lay their eggs,” Dr Jeetendra Sankpal, head of unit, surgery at GT Hospital, said. The hospital was planning to publish it in a scientific journal because maggots infecting hands, feet, nose and eyes were common but infecting the head was rare.

“The patient underwent a CT scan and we then started removing the maggots and dead tissues,” Tilwani said.