BUG bites and stinging insects are some of the downsides of the summer months.
For most of us, using insect repellent can help keep the critters at bay and when they strike, it’s usually no worse than a nasty, itchy spot that can be easily resolved with over-the-counter medications. antihistamine tablets or creams.
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But for a few unlucky ones, it bites and can become annoying, leading to hospitalization or even death.
Last week, a judicial inquiry heard how 21-year-old trainee pilot Oriana Pepperfrom Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, died after a mosquito bite on her forehead led to an infection that spread to her brain.
Father of three Jack Holmes also knows the pain of biting insects as he ended up in the hospital TWICE when his face swelled so much he was afraid he might not be able to breathe.
Jack, 30, told Sun Health how at first he thought the wound on his head was harmless place.
But he explained how in a matter of days he looked like he had lost a fight to heavyweight Mike Tyson.
Jack said: “It was a bit of a joke in the beginning – we all laughed about it at work because I looked like I’d done ten rounds in the ring.
“But I didn’t laugh when I ended up in the hospital. There was a creature living in my head – it was like something out of Alien vs Predator.”
Jack, from Stoke, woke up last month to what he thought was a plain old place.
He started his logistics job at an engineering firm and had his wife Hannah tackle the pimple when she returned.
“The lady wanted to squeeze, so I said, ‘Fire away’.
“Nothing came out except the pain after she tried – it felt like I had been hit on the head by Mike Tyson.”
Jack went back to work the next day, when his “spot” was the size of a golf ball.
On the advice of the NHS 111 emergency telephone line, he tried antihistamines, but towards the end of the day his right eye began to swell.
“The next morning I woke up and looked like Sloth from The Goonies,” he said.
“I got a video appointment with a GP and was prescribed antibiotics, but at the end of the day I couldn’t see at all with my right eye.
“The next morning both eyes were swollen and I had to call in sick so the lady could take me to the hospital.”
Jack tried to pry open one eye, but says the pressure in his head broke its place – leading to a horrifying discovery.
“It went off with a ‘bang,'” he said. “Some pus came out, followed by what appeared to be a black, rotting egg sac and a larva.
“It wriggled on the antiseptic wipe – absolutely dirty.”
He was prescribed more antihistamines, but returned to the hospital the next day in a panic.
“The top of my mouth started to swell and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to breathe.
“I went to the emergency room at the Royal Stoke Hospital. They planned to keep me in for the night, but in the end, after about six hours, I was sent home with another set of antibiotics.
“The next day I woke up feeling like it was raining, like nothing had happened. It was like day and night.”
Jack said he still has no idea what bit or stung him.
“Some people have suggested a gadfly,” he said.
“The doctor explained that whatever it was, I probably injected a poison to kill the flesh around the wound so that this thing could settle in my head.
“I’d like to know what it was.”
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