Animated foreign bodies in Otorhinolaryngology

Abstract

Study design: Clinical retrospective. Material and method: Fifty-six cases of animated foreign bodies collected inside human ears (55 insects and 1 arachnid) and one case collected in nasal fossae (insect) were reported. The material was collected in the Emergency room of Souza Aguiar Hospital, in Rio de Janeiro, between 1998 and 2000, and was identified by zoologists of Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro. Most of the cases had occurred in Nova Iguaçu and Campo Grande, suburb areas of Rio de Janeiro. Clinical features and complications were analyzed. Results: The recorded insects were: 30.35% Blattaria (cockroaches); 25% Diptera (flies and mosquitoes); 12.5% Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths); 10.7% Coleoptera (beetles); 7.15% Hemiptera (bugs, cicadas, aphids, etc.), 5.35% Hymenoptera (wasps, bees, ants, and sawflies) and 5.31% others.