It is universally recognised that insects or arachnids found burrowing, laying eggs or otherwise setting up camp inside a human’s head is a shuddersome prospect, but one we all find profoundly compelling.

The latest example of this genre of news comes to us from Jiangsu province in east China, where a man recently arrived at the doctors reportedly complaining of an itching, crawling sensation inside his ear.

Dr Zhang Pan of the Affiliated Hospital of Yangzhou University said that when he first inspected the patient’s ear he could not see anything unusual.

“I didn’t notice it when inspecting with the naked eye,” Dr Pan told News18.com.

“However, using an endoscope, I discovered the small spider inside.”

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The creature was weaving a web inside the man’s head, and had partially covered the ear canal.

Using tweezers the doctor attempted to extract the spider, but it kept dodging out of the way, so different tactics were required.

The ear, nose and throat specialist, who filmed the extraction of the unwelcome arachnid, put a needle into the patient’s ear and injected a drop of saline solution which flooded the ear canal.

In the footage, the spider is seen fleeing the mini tsunami and scurries out of the ear canal and over the edge of the patient’s ear.

Dr Pan said the patient could have sustained damage to his ear canal had he delayed treatment.

He also advised people with creatures in their ears to seek immediate medical attention.

In related insect-human invasion news, last month a Taiwanese woman who suffered what she believed to be a sudden and severe infection discovered she was unwittingly hosting four bees in her eyes.