# If I accidentally got a fly egg in my ear, could the maggot eat my brain and kill me? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 26, 2004, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-accidentally-got-a-fly-egg-in-my-ear-could-the-maggot-eat-my-brain-and-kill-me/252261 "2004-06-26T00:24:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Oregon\_sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/50afbb/32.png) [@Oregon\_sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oregon_sunshine)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-accidentally-got-a-fly-egg-in-my-ear-could-the-maggot-eat-my-brain-and-kill-me/252261/1 "2004-06-26T00:24:43Z")
Okay, here is a disclaimer: _I have irrational fears._ Okay? Sorry. Anyway, due to farming concerns, I wound up scraping fly eggs off of some stuff today without gloves on. On the way back into the house, I absentmindedly scratched inside my ear with my pinky fingernail. I can’t guarantee that I didn’t accidentally put a fly egg [or two] in there. What’s the worst that could happen? Thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-accidentally-got-a-fly-egg-in-my-ear-could-the-maggot-eat-my-brain-and-kill-me/252261/2 "2004-06-26T00:27:17Z")
Maggots only eat dead flesh. So unless there’s some of that in your brain 😛 then nothing will happen. They’re not gonna get anywhere near hatching, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-accidentally-got-a-fly-egg-in-my-ear-could-the-maggot-eat-my-brain-and-kill-me/252261/3 "2004-06-26T00:43:16Z")
The _worst_ that could happen is that they weren’t fly eggs at all, but South American earwig eggs, in which case they will hatch, burrow their way through your eardrum into your brain, and eat their way around and around until you go absolutely batshit insane. The likelihood of this happening in Grainbelt, USA is rather slight, unless your neighbor bears an uncanny resemblance to Rod Serling. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-accidentally-got-a-fly-egg-in-my-ear-could-the-maggot-eat-my-brain-and-kill-me/252261/4 "2004-06-26T00:44:33Z")
[Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/horrors/insects/bugear.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-accidentally-got-a-fly-egg-in-my-ear-could-the-maggot-eat-my-brain-and-kill-me/252261/5 "2004-06-26T01:42:45Z")
**gorillaman** is correct. That’s why maggots are so useful in debriding necrotic wounds. Dump them into an open ulcer, they scavenge up all the dead tissue, and stop eating when they get to living flesh! The ulcer, now nice and clean, can have a better chance to heal up right! Let us give praise to nature’s trash collectors. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-accidentally-got-a-fly-egg-in-my-ear-could-the-maggot-eat-my-brain-and-kill-me/252261/6 "2004-06-26T02:02:21Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > **gorillaman** is correct. That’s why maggots are so useful in debriding necrotic wounds. Dump them into an open ulcer, they scavenge up all the dead tissue, and stop eating when they get to living flesh! Sounds to me that us mods could be effectively replaced by a team of maggots. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-accidentally-got-a-fly-egg-in-my-ear-could-the-maggot-eat-my-brain-and-kill-me/252261/7 "2004-06-26T02:41:46Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Sounds to me that us mods could be effectively replaced by a team of maggots. :eek: You didn’t know that already? ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-accidentally-got-a-fly-egg-in-my-ear-could-the-maggot-eat-my-brain-and-kill-me/252261/8 "2004-06-26T02:49:09Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > **gorillaman** is correct. That’s why maggots are so useful in debriding necrotic wounds. Dump them into an open ulcer, they scavenge up all the dead tissue, and stop eating when they get to living flesh! The ulcer, now nice and clean, can have a better chance to heal up right! > > Let us give praise to nature’s trash collectors. That almost makes me want to vomit. I heard a story recently (I think it was on NPR but I _might’ve_ seen it on tv) where these cops found an old lady in her bed, still alive, but maggots were eating the entire backside of her body. In other words, imagine lying face up on a bed and maggots were eating every part of you that was touching the bed. Turns out her daughter and granddaughter were purposely holding her on the brink of death so they didn’t have to deal with her but still got her social security check. One of the most disgusting stories I’ve ever heard in my life. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Lao](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dr.Lao](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Lao)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-accidentally-got-a-fly-egg-in-my-ear-could-the-maggot-eat-my-brain-and-kill-me/252261/9 "2004-06-26T03:06:49Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > That almost makes me want to vomit. I heard a story recently (I think it was on NPR but I _might’ve_ seen it on tv) where these cops found an old lady in her bed, still alive, but maggots were eating the entire backside of her body. In other words, imagine lying face up on a bed and maggots were eating every part of you that was touching the bed. The point is, though, the maggots aren’t eating you. They are eating the bits of flesh that once belonged to you, but now are dead and decaying. Still, a horrific way to keep a human being. I imagine they would turn her when they saw her failing and that is when the flies laid their eggs on the dead tissue in her bedsores. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-accidentally-got-a-fly-egg-in-my-ear-could-the-maggot-eat-my-brain-and-kill-me/252261/10 "2004-06-26T06:23:45Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Sounds to me that us mods could be effectively replaced by a team of maggots. :eek: Damn the outsourcing!