Noises in tourist's head were from flesh-eating maggots

A British woman returned from a holiday in Peru hearing scratching noises inside her head to be told she was being attacked by flesh-eating maggots living inside her ear.

 Rochelle Harris, 27, said she remembered dislodging a fly from her ear while in Peru but thought nothing more of it until she started getting headaches and pains down one side of her face and woke up in Britain one morning with liquid on her pillow.  Thinking she had a routine ear infection caused by a mosquito bite, she sought medical treatment at the Royal Derby Hospital in northern England, where a consultant noticed maggots in a small hole in her ear-canal.

"I was very scared. Were they in my brain?" said Harris, recounting her ordeal in a new Discovery Channel documentary series called "Bugs, Bites and Parasites" to be aired in the UK from July 21. Doctors tried first to flush the maggots out of the ear using olive oil.  "It was the longest few hours that I have ever had to wait... I could still feel them and hear them and knowing what those scratching sounds were, and knowing what that wriggling feeling was, that just made it all the worse," she said.

When flushing the maggots out failed, the medics resorted to surgery and found a "writhing mass of maggots" within her ear, raising concern they could eat into her brain.  The surgery removed a family of eight maggots. Analysis found that a New World Army Screw Worm fly had laid eggs inside Harris's ear.  "I'm not so squeamish around those kinds of bugs now. How can I be? They've been in my ear!" Harris said.

Water Fountains

Do you use water fountains when you travel? Apparently, public water fountains may have more bacteria than a public toilet, according to Smarter Travel.

You see toilets being cleaned a couple of times a day, but when was the last time you saw that public fountain being cleaned?

One study by the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF International) found that the dirtiest spots in public schools were water fountains.

The next time you want to drink from the water fountain or refill your water bottle, you might want to buy a new bottle instead.

Model & pilots

Two pilots from Vietnam Airlines have been fined and suspended for a month, after a letting model pose in the co-pilot’s seat on a flight from Hong Kong to Hanoi last month.

Photos show the celebrity and former tourism ambassador for Vietnam, Ly Nha Ky, wearing a pilot’s hat and sunglasses, with the pilot next to her turned away from the controls. She was also seen hugging two flight attendants.

According to a report on CapitalBay, the plane was flying on auto-pilot at the time but aviation safety regulations were breached because the co-pilot had left his seat. The pilots had also allowed an unauthorised person into the cockpit.

This was also reported on multiple news sites online.

A Vietnam Airlines spokesperson said the airline had no prior knowledge of the incident and is waiting for official reporting from its staff, and that a separate investigation will follow.

In an earlier incident, Miss Universe Vietnam 2011 Hoang My was also caught in a plane cockpit.

LOL.... actually I cant blame her, the cockpit is really an unusual place. But the pilots should have known better...

Aircraft Tiolets

Small and confined, aircraft bathrooms are the perfect space for breeding of germs.
 Apparently, the space is so small that flushing the toilet could potentially spray bacteria onto many surfaces in the bathroom, including the sink and sink top.

If the bathroom was dirtied by a messy passenger before you, be advised to wash your hands, use a paper towel to open the bathroom door, and then lather hand sanitizer when you return to your seat. As the saying goes, better safe than sorry.

Do you often fall sick when you travel or upon returning from a holiday?

Other than change in climate, TV remotes are apparently one of the germiest items in hotel rooms. According to studies, they have the "highest levels of bacterial contamination in the hotel room," 

Worse still, it revealed that housekeepers could do a good job of your bathroom but they rarely clean TV controls. But fret not, nowadays with smartphone apps, you can download one that allows your to control the TV with your smartphone. That way, no need for coming into too much contact with the bacteria-laden surfaces of the TV remote control

From the pilot during his welcome message:

"We are pleased to have some of the best flight attendants in the industry.

Unfortunately none of them are on this flight."

Ditching!!!!!

An announcement:

"Your seat cushions can be used for flotation.
In the event of an emergency water landing, please take them with our compliments."