A Hubei Province man had more than 50 maggots removed from a rotting open wound in the back of his head to prevent them from eating into his brain.
Surgeons at Wuhan Brain Hospital operated on the 75-year-old patient surnamed Zhou on August 5 after he had scratched open a wart on the back of his head days earlier.
He was diagnosed with myiasis, or when flies or other insects lay eggs in an open cut.
Zhou said he had scratched and caused the wart to bleed, but had thought nothing of it.
However, Zhou sought medical treatment the next day when he started to feel an unusual pain.
He also described having a problem with mosquitoes and flies in his home, and not having air conditioning.
Doctors found the wound had not only started to turn black, but also that it was infested with maggots that threatened his brain tissue.
Zhou was scheduled for surgery, where doctors removed the rotted flesh and more than 50 of the flesh-eating maggots.
Wang Huanming, a doctor at Wuhan Brain Hospital, said Zhou's open wound had probably attracted flies to lay larvae in his head, which under such conditions would only take 12 hours to hatch.
Zhou is currently recovering from the ordeal.
