Little Girl Has One Thousand Ants Removed From Her Ears

#1 Shreya Darji, 12, from Deesa in western India has a real problem on her hands.

Giant ants just keep crawling out out of her ears. So far more than 1,000 giant ants have been caught emerging from her ear canal.

#2 Her problem began in August, and since then, about 10 ants emerge from her ear each day.

Her doctor knows the ants have built their nest somewhere in her ear canal, but he can't seem to find the egg chamber even with the use of a camera.

#3 Dr. Jawahar Talsania, the girl's ear, nose, and throat surgeon, says there is not much they can do.

"We have conducted all possible scans on the child including an MRI and CT scan but they are all normal," he said. "We cannot find any abnormality in her ears."

#4 So far, doctors have removed thousands of ants, but despite trying 'everything' the problem persists and the ants continue to breed.

"The family live a normal life and they have a healthy environment so we can't even blame their living conditions. We've not seen anything like this in our medical history. We don't believe the ants are laying eggs inside the ear as we've not spotted a queen ant inside. We are completely perplexed."

#5 Dr. Jawahr even tried to suffocate the ants, but still they persist.

Nothing seems to effectively rid the girl of her problem. The doctors tried to drown or suffocate the colony with drops into her ears but that has not worked so far. Her parents even resorted to taking her to see a witch doctor when modern medicine failed. Ants have long been a part of India's history as they have tales of giant ants as big as dogs that would dig up gold in the sands.

#6 Shreya's father Sanjay Darji worries for her future.

"I have done everything I can," he said. "I have taken her to the best doctors but they have failed to solve the problem. I just hope things get better." He's terrified the condition is getting worse and not better, as other children in the community are afraid of her condition and have began calling her "Ant Girl."

#7 So far, the girl's ear drum has not been harmed by the presence of the ants.

She doesn't experience any kind of pain - despite the ants biting her - and no damage has been found to the eardrums. A video filmed with an endoscopic camera shows a doctor removing what appears to be dead ants from the 12-year-old's ear

#8 The ants in Shreya's ear have been identified as Carpenter Ants by doctors.

Carpenter ants are large black ants that normally live in hollowed out spaces like holes in trees. They also commonly infest wooden buildings and structures. They prefer moist habitats with many passageways. They work to build the nests that house eggs in environments with high humidity.

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