Girl, 11, Has 60 Ants Pulled From Her Eyes That Doctor Says ‘Probably’ Entered Through Her Ears

An 11-year-old girl recently had as many as 60 ants removed from her eyes after complaining for a while of severe eye pain. According to the Daily Mail last Thursday, the schoolgirl, who resides in an Indian village, baffled some doctors with the strange phenomenon. However, one local doctor in India apparently thinks the ants had entered through the girl’s ears while she slept.

The 11-year-old Indian girl named Ashwini is said to have complained for days about having “something in her eyes.” The family, who lives in a village in Belthangady, India, called the Nellingeri village, thought that an ant had just landed in Ashwini’s eye as she slept. According to the Daily Mail, Ashwini’s parents had first found just one ant “below her eyelid.”

IBTimes also reported last Friday that the girl was actually found to have had at least 60 ants in her eyes after complaining of itchy eyes, inflammation, and pain for several days. When Ashwini continued to complain about the discomfort, her parents sought out the help of a local doctor in southern India. While at the local hospital, the doctor was said to have removed 60 dead ants from Ashwini’s eyes and said that “the ants had probably entered” through her ears.

Sixty ants came out of 11-year-old girl's eye in ten days #Weird #healthhttps://t.co/6dxKC3LyyZ

— IBTIndia Trends (@IBT_Trends) March 9, 2018

The doctor also prescribed eye drops for Ashwini to aid in the healing of the irritation and inflammation that was a result of having the dead ants in her eyes for so long. The 60 dead ants were apparently all removed from Ashwini’s eyes within 10 days. However, according to a report on the Sun, at least five to six more dead ants have still been coming out of Ashwini’s eyes on a daily basis. Teachers at Ashwini’s school were apparently concerned enough to take her to an eye hospital last Monday.

According to the previously mentioned IBTimes report, while the first local doctor had explained the dead ants had probably entered Ashwini’s eyes through her ears, the doctors at the eye hospital were apparently left “baffled,” saying they couldn’t explain the phenomenon. The first doctor’s theory about how the ants had gotten into Ashwini’s eyes reportedly “could not be confirmed.” The IBTimes also notes another “bizarre case,” also in India, of a 12-year-old girl named Shreya Darji who had ants removed from her head in 2016.

Doctors baffled as 11-year-old girl has SIXTY ants removed from her eyes https://t.co/n362BqCmZc

— The Sun (@TheSun) March 11, 2018

The latter case, which occurred in western India, and was reported on by the Independent in February of 2016, led local doctors to assume the colony of ants that was removed from her head had originally entered through her ears, mainly because Shreya first complained of ear pain. Another IBTimes report from last Friday claims that Ashwini’s parents feared that their daughter had been affected by an evil spirit, adding that an astrologer actually claimed that the ants in Ashwini’s eyes were the result of an alleged serpent curse called Naga Dosha.

National Geographic published a list of “horrifying” creatures that can actually enter the body, noting that cockroaches are the most common insect to “climb into people.” The list says that endoscopies have also turned up ants, wasps, and ladybugs. An article published on the University of Rochester Medical Center website notes that insects “can enter the ear while a child is sleeping.”