A young woman has been left with a burnt and rotting blackened big toe and a bright yellow toenail after a toxic millipede hid in her shoe before she went to work.

Businesswoman Thassynara Vargas, 25, was left with a gross-looking big toe after it came into contact with a millipede (Diplopoda) that had sneakily crawled into one of her shoes.

The incident took place when she went to the store she owns in the neighbourhood of Taquara in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro on Friday, 29th October.

On arriving at her workplace, she realised she had a bug in her right trainer. She explained on Instagram to her 2,500 followers: “I killed it, put my trainers on again and got on with my day.

“When I got home at 7 pm, when I took off my trainers, I saw my foot was like this. I fell into total despair. I started screaming, shouting for help.

“My mother put me in the shower, I started to wash my feet with soap and none of that ‘stain’ came out. I called my boyfriend and we rushed to the hospital straight away.”

The young woman was seen to by three different doctors before she found out what had happened.

She said: “I was informed I would have to take good care of the wound, as these animals release a substance that burns the skin, and this secretion they release rots the skin.

“This part that’s black, it could flake off. I may lose the nail, but they said that’s pretty standard.”

According to the young woman, her toenail turned yellow due to a toxin released by the bug.

She said: “I’m issuing this warning so that whenever you’re about to put on a shoe, you look, tap your shoe on the floor and pay close attention before putting it on. Please be very careful.”

Thassynara’s toe had turned to normal again by the following Monday (1st November).