Straight Dope scoop: The truth about the boy with "two spiders living in his ear."

[meegbear]

Dear Straight Dope:

Today I was reading an article on CNN's website about a boy who apparently had two spiders living in his ear – quite unnerving really. What intrigued me, though, is that the article stated that the spiders were feeding off the boy's earwax. I wasn't aware that earwax could sustain life, other than some microorganisms of course. Is this article merely speculating or is there some truth to this "earwax for food" claim? —Cameron Williams

SDSTAFF Doug replies:

You demonstrate a useful trait which fewer people in the U.S. seem to have now than ever before in our history: healthy skepticism. While U.S. medical professionals are among the finest and best-trained in the world, one thing they do not teach you in med school is the life history of spiders. As for the U.S. media, especially the numerous bloggers who chimed in on this story, expectations are even lower, and journalists fully lived up (or down) to them, presumably because the story had such a magically bizarre ring to it that the capacity for critical thinking was suspended. Combine these elements and you have the makings of an urban legend.

Now for the facts. First, all spiders are predatory in the strictest sense – without exception, they only eat what they can kill. There aren't even spiders that suck blood from a living host as a mosquito does, let alone any that can feed on earwax. Second, anyone who knows about spiders would have realized instantly what the doctor found in that boy's ear: a single spider that had crawled in seeking a secure spot in which to shed its skin. Look at the photos: There's one spider, plus the old skin it shed. Anyone can recognize this once it's been pointed out. So the story was wrong on three counts: (1) there weren't spiderS, just one spider; (2) it wasn't "living in" his ear, it was hiding there temporarily while its exoskeleton hardened after molting; and (3) it wasn't feeding on anything. A spider before and after molting doesn't feed, and never eats earwax when it does feed.

So the doctor got it wrong, and reporters passed along the misinformation without doing any fact-checking. To confirm this, I called Dr. David J. Irvine, the doctor in Oregon who removed the spider from the boy's ear. He admits that yes, he initially believed there were two spiders, but now recognizes that there was in fact a single spider and its shed skin, and he doesn't object to going on the record as recanting his original testimony, as it were. Dr. Irvine also says (and I have no reason to dispute this) that when he talked to reporters and was asked whether the spiders had been feeding on earwax, he did in fact say that as far as he knew, all spiders were predatory. In other words, the doctor isn't the person who started that part of the rumor – that's entirely the fault of the reporters.

Sadly, none of the journalists involved ever thought to ask the simple question you did, or this story would never have gotten the attention it did. I'm sure we'll all be hearing about this incident, and the urban legends it will inspire, for decades to come. But at least the readers of the Straight Dope will know the truth.

http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtwospiders.htm

[kay1864]

1. The Straight Dope rocks!

I check it every week. Great stuff.

[Orsino]

2. No shame on the doctor.

Once he's gotten all the bug out of the ear, and confirmed that all is well, the rest is just Wild Kingdom--interesting, but not an indictment of the medical profession.