Cattle Tick in the Ear with Facial Palsy : A Case Repor

Abstract

Background :  Aural foreign body can cause any complications for example acute otitis externa, acute myringitis but there were very rare report of aural foreign body with acute facial palsy.

Objective : To disseminate the rare case of the cattle tick in the ear with acute facial palsy.

Result : A 61 years old woman presented with severe otalgia, incomplete closure of her right eye and asymmetry of nasolabial fold at rest 5 hours prior admission. Physical examination revealed she had right facial nerve palsy (lower motor neuron type). Otoscopic examination revealed a cattle tick sucked at her external auditory canal epithelium adhered inject tympanic membrane. So we removed the cattle tick with alligators under therapeutic otoscope and gave her intravenous antibiotic. Within 1 week after removal the tick she had fully recovered.

Conclusion :  Acute facial palsy might cause from direct contact of neurotoxin in the cattle tick saliva to the dehiscence of the bony canal of the tympanic segment of facial nerve or might be the coincidence.