The itch doesn't go away because of the herd of 'strange creatures'... swimming in the eyes

According to Medical Xpress, a gardener in France while working on a farm with sheep and horses felt something in his eye, causing mild itching. However, after many hours with the itching still not going away despite the usual measures, he decided to go to the emergency room.

The test results at Saint-Etienne University Hospital (France) made both doctors and patients "fall back": A swarm of small, strange creatures are turning the man's outer eye area into a place to swimming. They are constantly mobile and cause conjunctival congestion.

The "strange creature" was swimming in the man's eye (left) and its close-up "portrait" was rendered by the researchers.

The alien creatures were identified as larvae of a type of fly that likes to lay eggs in the nostrils of sheep. After the eggs hatch, the larvae move into the sinuses, eat the mucus, and turn into maggots. After a few weeks, the maggots fall off the sheep's nose and mature into flies.

It's unclear how, this time the larvae chose a strange host and host.

Doctors used tweezers to remove them one by one from the man's eyes and prescribed antibiotics. Thankfully, a re-examination 10 days later revealed that he had made a full recovery, with no eye damage or infection.

This unique case was built into a study by the doctors, described in a recent publication in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).