Missouri woman's ear discomfort caused by brown recluse spider

Aug. 23 (UPI) -- A woman who went to a Missouri doctor complaining of water in her ear was shocked to be told it was actually a highly venomous brown recluse spider.

Susie Torres said she thought the discomfort in her left ear was being caused by some water, but she went to a clinic in Kansas City to have it checked out and began to worry when the medical assistant expressed concern.

"She ran out and said I'm going to get a couple more people," Torres told KSHB-TV. "She then said, 'I think you have an insect in there.'"

Torres said she was even more surprised a few minutes later.

"She came back in and told me it was a spider," Torres said. "They had a few tools and worked their magic and got it out."

Doctors told Torres it was a brown recluse spider -- a highly venomous species -- but it hadn't bitten the inside of her ear.

"I never thought they would crawl in your ear or any part of your body," Torres said.

Torres said she is taking some precautions while sleeping.

"I went and put some cotton balls in my ear last night, because I did not have any ear plugs," said Torres. "I'm pretty terrified of spiders."

A doctor in Vietnam recently helped a patient who came in with a similar complaint in June. Dr. Thuoc looked into the patient's ear at the clinic in Hai Duong and found a spider nesting inside.

Thuoc was able to use a light to lure the spider out of the woman's ear.