A couple have been charged with child abuse after seven children, one allegedly wearing a nappy filled with maggots, were found in a "filthy" home strewn with faeces, police said.

Michael Patrick McKnight, 24, and Jamie Leigh Hiatt, 25, were arrested after police discovered the children, aged between one and six, in conditions unfit "for any human life".

Human and animal faeces and urine were found smeared around the house in Lexington, North Carolina, said police.

Officers called at the house to check on the welfare of the children on 27 October.

"Once at the home officers observed very filthy and unhealthy living conditions," said a Lexington Police Department statement. "Living conditions at the home range from human and animal faeces and urine scattered around the home to a very dirty and unhealthy environment for any human life."

Paramedics and social services were called to the house. Two 18-month-old twins and a one-year-old were taken to hospital, where medics reportedly found maggots in the nappy of the youngest child.

The twins were still being treated at Brenner's Children's Hospital this week. The one-year-old has been discharged and will be rehomed by Davidson County social services.

Police said the house was unfit 'for any human life' (Fox 8)

Hiatt was reported to be the mother of four of the seven children and McKnight was said to be the father of three.

Hiatt's mother told local media she had been trying to locate her grandchildren for a year.

The couple have each been charged with felony neglect-child abuse involving serious injury and six counts of misdemeanour child abuse.