Creepy crawly ... the bite of a centipede can cause pain, swelling and fever. Picture: ChartChai MeeSangNin

The woman had the shock of her life after it was discovered that a centipede had crawled into her ear while she was sleeping.

After the Chinese woman woke up and felt something scratching in her ear, she headed to the emergency room at Yangzhou Hospital in Jiangsu where the doctors discovered a centipede had taken up residence in her ear canal.

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A doctor then used saline solution to kill the bug.

Footage has emerged of the moment the doctor using tweezers in an attempt to pull the dead bug’s body from the patient’s ear in one piece.

The woman suffered minor injuries to her ear but is recovering.

Centipedes are members of the arthropod family and can be venomous, but are not strong enough to be life-threatening.