An Earwig Perhaps?

When I woke up on Wednesday my right ear started to bleed profusely and wouldn't stop. I went to the nurse and she scheduled an apointment for a dr. Dr said no infection, looks bruised. Just bruised? I have no idea how the inside of my ear, barely in front of my ear drum, can get bruised. My friend told me about Earwigs that burrow into the brains of humans through the ear and therein lay their eggs. So I looked it up online and found this:

The Texas Department of Agriculture in cooperation with the Department of Health has issued a warning surrounding earwig infestations in the state. The earwig is a small insect, with forceps-like antennae, many jointed feelers and a pincher-like beak at the end of it’s tail. They mate in the cooler days of autumn and prefer to engage their mating behavior on vegetables of the squash and gourd variety. During the Halloween season, pumpkins are of particular concern for transmission of these parasites to humans.

These insects are quite insidious, the fertilized female will attach herself to hair, clothing and/or skin, and under the cover of darkness wend her way into the ear canal, burrowing then through the middle and inner ear to the brain. Upon reaching the brain, the earwig first severs the cranial nerve, which serves as both a blessing and a curse to the victim. Whereas the victim suffers no pain thereafter, the victim is also unaware of the progressive degeneration of cerebral tissue.

Over the course of several days, the female burrows a network of tunnels through the temporal and frontal lobes of the brain, implanting her eggs as she digs along. After she has deposited her entire brood of approximately 1000 eggs, she emerges in the sinus cavity where she expires. The eggs hatch after about 4 days of incubation. Immediately after they pass through the pupae stage, about 2 days later, each larva burrows further into the brain, shredding brain tissues and consuming it for nourishment. The victim will usually die a horrible and debilitating death about a week later as the larvae reach maturity.

The entire process of host infestation to host death spans only about 2 weeks, so recognizing the symptoms and seeking treatment is of immediate concern.

If you experience any of the following symptoms, seek medical attention immediately: Bleeding from the ears, fever over 103 F for more than a day, heart palpitations, migraine-like headaches and/or sudden speech impairment.

This is an old wives' tale. But check out the links, it's pretty cool. Earwigs are neither carnivorous nor parasitic. I see them in my garden all the time, so when I was reading about them online, I was almost in tears laughing. It's amazing what some people think, and I know I'm gullible.

I also have tiny spots on my left index finger. As though something is eating my left index finger. There are little holes in it, but it doesn't hurt. I have no idea what that is, so I asked the dr. Dr didn't have a clue either and just gave me a strange look... the type of look that says this person should be locked up for their own good! My guess is that I picked up a fungal or bacterial infection from digging in the dirt. Could be viral. Friend suggested (same friend) leprosy, which happens to be on this island. I doubt it only because the early stages of leprosy tends to cause nerve problems in your hand way before it rots off.

Seems I've picked up yet another unknown jungle bug. Trying to stay well though.